Daily Crunch: WhatsApp extends no-send time limit to ‘just over two days’ – TechCrunch

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox each day at 3pm PDT, Subscribe here.

Whazzaaaaaa, we’re back with another round of news on this beautiful Tuesday. Today is a pretty wild news day with a lot of startup jinx. Feel free to check out everything on the site, of course, but we’ve selected some of the stories that caught our attention today. let’s gooooo! — Christine and hey

The TechCrunch Top 3

• Say it, forget it, post it, regret it: WhatsApp topped the news food chain today with two stories. The first is something users seem to be very excited about – more time to delete a message. In fact, users now have 60 hours to delete a message they didn’t like or didn’t mean to send. This is an extension of 1 hour, 8 minutes and 16 seconds, Ivan reports. Excuse us while we look at something…
• Notification of new features: After getting rid of that pesky delete, WhatsApp also introduced new privacy options for users, including screenshot blocking and stealth mode. Taylor writes. The screenshot blocking option, which is a one-view message, reads very similar to Inspector Gadget’s self-destructing message, save for the explosion.
• phishing gone: Armenian startup EasyDMARC has raised $2.3 million to fight the multi-billion dollar phishing industry, which has reared its ugly head since strangers could trick people into clicking links. mike reports that the company has bundled the DMARC protocol, or “Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance,” into something that is easier for businesses to use.

Startups and VCs

Watching startups play extreme hardball is our brand of spectator sport. In that case, app growth and monetization agency AppLovin today submitted an unsolicited offer to buy game engine Unity, valued at $20 billion, just a year after its IPO. But there’s a catch: Unity would have to end its recent deal to merge with ironSource, a competitor to AppLovin. amanda reports.

While many crypto investors have slowed their breakneck pace in startup investing while awaiting more clarity on the macro environment, Luke reports that there have never been more companies and money for blockchain venture investments. Portal Ventures closes $35 million debut fund to feed the beast.

RealOpen’s newest product, RealScore, is a crypto credit scoring system for luxury home buyers and sellers. anita reports. Led by “Selling Sunset” star Christine Quinn, the brokerage firm primarily serves wealthy clients looking to purchase real estate with cryptocurrency.

more more more more more more more:

• Yes, but what are you really doing?: Paul reports that Truework, which helps lenders verify borrowers’ income and employment, raises $50 million.
• Canoo is up a creek paddling like crazy: Pre-sales EV startup Canoo shows it’s burning money like there’s no tomorrow in a race to hit $1 billion EV sales goal, Rebecca reports.
• That did not please me: Returning items from where they came can be a royal PITA. ReturnLogic bags new cash to make this less nightmarish Christine writes.
• First India. Next the world!: Accel led a $2.6 million investment in Produze to help Indian agricultural producers export globally, the company reports Jagmeet.
• Fifty dune buggies are coming!: abigail got us very excited: It looks like the Meyers Manx Dune Buggy is coming back, this time as an electric vehicle.
• Well, that will cause a hangover: VC-backed low-alcohol aperitif startup Haus up for sale after Serie A flunk, writes Natasha M.

Examine your down-funnel metrics to optimize growth

Early-stage startups put a lot of time and energy into marketing and acquisition: these levers drive new customers to the top of your sales funnel to drive growth. And investors love growth.

But in August 2022, they like sales even more, which is why Jonathan Martinez says companies should turn their attention to down-funnel metrics.

“Varying messaging by user cohort is your biggest lever for moving users down the funnel,” writes Martinez in his latest TC+ post. “It’s imperative to segment users into their respective areas as this opens up the opportunity for unique targeting and messaging.”

(TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead. Here you can sign up.)

BigTech Inc.

Indian game companies will not accept the “game over” sentiment they will receive from the country’s prime minister if the Battlegrounds Mobile India ban continues. Some firms have condemned the ban as an “unfortunate event” and said that “such arbitrary decisions will go against established principles and will deprive an entire generation of India’s youth of opportunity”. Manic reports.

We have a series of Google News today starting with a funny story from Ivan about the search engine giant that launched a website to help children read. This is followed by talk of the company’s new campaign aimed at pushing Apple to adopt the Rich Communication Service or RCS, a protocol to improve messaging between Android and iOS users. aisha writes.

brian has followed the movement of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 as he walked through both houses of Congress and to President Biden for the signing. He explains what this new law, which focuses on semiconductor protection in the USA, entails.

• You’re not allowed to dance here: We were shocked to find out that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, had bought a hospital group in China. Rita writes. The company was already involved in healthcare, but going from acquiring a company that provides healthcare to owning hospitals is a big leap, or tour jeté, if you will.
• But here you can dance: Spotify has a few new features, with aisha Writing about home screen updates that include personalized discovery feeds for music and podcasts. In the meantime, Ivan reports on the company’s Soundtrap app for musicians, revealing live collaboration and autosave features.
• Streaming while dancing: Looks like Walmart is getting back into streaming services, Lauren writes.
• Don’t dance with this cookie: The European Union is following up on some companies they say have largely ignored warnings to bring their cookie consent banners in line, Natasha L reports.
• ICYMI: Here are some of the big stories from yesterday that spilled over into today: kyle and Natasha M Write about Groupon shedding 500+ employees and Sarah‘s report on Snapchat’s new “Family Center” feature.