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| |  Image Credits: CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT / Getty Images | | Health-tracking apps, digital medical devices and telemedicine have all seen explosive growth since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Although many investors are taking a wait-and-see attitude when it comes to consumer tech, healthcare infrastructure — largely powered by data and automation — is a sub-vertical these VCs are watching closely: - Matt Brennan, General Catalyst
- Bilal Zuberi, Lux Capital
- Bryan Roberts, Venrock
- Carl Byers, F-Prime Capital
- Arvind Gupta, SOSV
- Sundeep Peechu, Felicis Ventures
Today at 11 a.m. PST/2 p.m. EST, Forerunner Ventures founder Kirsten Green will join us for an Extra Crunch Live chat. Green, who’s invested in D2C companies like Dollar Shave Club, Glossier and Birchbox, will discuss the advice she’s offering her portfolio companies, how her focus has changed in recent weeks and where she’s feeling optimistic. Attendees are encouraged to bring questions, but only Extra Crunch members can participate, so please join before the discussion begins. Thanks very much for reading Extra Crunch! Walter Thompson
Senior Editor, TechCrunch
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| |  Image Credits: Hiroshi Watanabe / Getty Images | | Investors pumped nearly $6.1 billion into fintech startups last quarter, but when compared to the pre-COVID-19 era, that amount is “unimpressive,” writes Alex Wilhelm in today’s column. To better understand the fintech funding landscape, he dives into a Q1 2020 report from CB Insights that shows “dollars invested in the sector fell to levels not seen since 2017.” Read more | | | |
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| |  Image Credits: Feodora Chiosea / Getty Images | | Entrepreneurs in search of funding during the COVID-19 pandemic are sailing into the wind, but corporate venture capital is still an option for many. Enterprise reporter Ron Miller spoke to representatives from Dell Technologies Capital and Salesforce Ventures to learn more about how these firms operate and what they’re looking for in this climate. Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Saar Gur/CRV / CRV | | After leading investments into consumer startups like DoorDash, Patreon, Niantic and Bird, Saar Gur of CRV says he’s looking for VR gaming startups that are poised to have an “Xbox moment.” In conversation with Eric Peckham, Gur talked about where he’s seeking innovation in VR and how the COVID-19 crisis is highlighting new opportunities in gaming and entertainment. Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Kinsei-TGS / Getty Images | | In his Friday morning column, Alex Wilhelm looked at the Bessemer-Nasdaq cloud index to get a sense of how well SaaS companies are weathering the economic downturn. Because SaaS services are central to so many companies, he dug into the numbers and talked to the CEO of an analytics firm to find out why Bessemer’s cloud index saw all-time highs last week. Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: William West / Getty Images | | Gaming platforms aren’t just for play: buying and selling virtual goods, chatting with others and removing bullies and cheaters are just a few actions supported by gaming infrastructure. As games continue to evolve into social hubs, developers must invest in tools and platforms that help them create vibrant virtual worlds. Eric Peckham spoke to four investors who are active in gaming to get their thoughts: - Sam Englebardt, Galaxy Interactive
- Gigi Levy Weiss, NFX
- Amit Kumar, Accel
- Anton Backman, Play Ventures
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| |  Image Credits: Ron Miller/TechCrunch | | Boston’s startup ecosystem has slowed down since the novel coronavirus disrupted the economy, but because the area is home to so many seed startups accelerators and early-stage investors, some local tech leaders believe the region will continue to thrive. Read more | | | |
| |  | | Last week, Apple announced that its Worldwide Developer Conference will go virtual this year, a software bug in Facebook’s SDK borked a number of iOS apps and Google delayed the release of Android 11, extending its preview period by 30 days. Plus: more privacy concerns over virus contact-tracing apps, Square and Cash get a pandemic boost and other updates from the world of mobile software and entertainment. Read more | | | |
| |  | | In an Extra Crunch Live conversation last week, Sequoia partner Roelof Botha shared his thoughts and answered questions about how he’s evaluating new opportunities and the trends he’s observed in healthcare, cloud computing, social and other areas. “I'm more optimistic about startups today than I was a year ago,” he said. “I just think change unfairly favors the startup, the nimble small company.” Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Christoper Michel (Image has been modified) | | We expected our conversation last week with Homebrew partner Hunter Walk to generate some memorable moments, and he did not disappoint: “You punch yourself in the face every time you keep reading about the company that you passed on, or company that you didn't see that succeeded. Because you're like, ‘we were right, we were right, we were right,’ but it doesn't matter.” Read the highlights, or watch the entire Extra Crunch Live chat on our YouTube channel. Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Dougal Waters / Getty Images (Image has been modified) | | The last quarter showed that investors are less enthusiastic about fintech companies, but consumers who want to save and invest are still beating a path to their doors. Even after the pandemic reset the global economy, challenger banks and fintech startups continue to show strong user growth, but “some of the most visible fintech startups have been preparing for consolidation,” reports Romain Dillet. Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Getty Images | | Our global health emergency spiked plans for several public offerings in 2020, which is why Alex Wilhelm was “nigh-incredulous” about last week’s debut of Kingsoft Cloud and a planned filing this summer for used-car market Vroom. Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Bloomberg / Getty Images | | DeltaV Ventures co-founder Jon McNeill talked with Connie Loizos about what he learned while serving as president of Tesla and COO of Lyft. McNeill described Elon Musk as “the best practitioner of my craft as an entrepreneur,” opened up about the “pursuit of the perfect product” and predicts that workers will eventually return to offices, because “human beings are pack animals.” Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Yegor Aleyev / Getty Images (Image has been modified) | | We spoke to four edtech CEOs to collect their thoughts about where their industry is heading now that students of all ages are learning from home: - Matthew Glotzbach, CEO, Quizlet
- Jessie Woolley-Wilson, CEO and president, DreamBox Learning
- Darren Shimkus, general manager, Udemy for Business
- Zach Sims, co-founder and CEO, Codecademy
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