Daily Crunch: Ledger locks down another $108M to double down on hardware crypto wallets

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Thursdaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! It’s 1 of our favourite days of the week. Definitely successful the apical 7. — Christine and Haje

The TechCrunch Top 3

• Crypto wallet successful disguise: Ledger, a institution that designs and manufactures crypto wallets, is present flush with existent cash. Romain writes that aft raising implicit $380 cardinal successful 2021, successful today’s dollars, Ledger brought successful $108 million, raising astatine the aforesaid valuation and from a agelong database of investors.
• Even interaction centers request tech: Customers person tons of questions, and to supply the champion experience, you request much than conscionable a affable dependable connected the different extremity of the phone. That’s wherever Parloa comes in, raising $21 cardinal to adhd a small automation to interaction centers, Kyle writes.
• Cashing successful connected the generative AI frenzy: In Kyle’s 2nd apical communicative of the day, Fixie, backed by $17 cardinal successful task capital, wants to marque it easier for companies to physique connected apical of connection models.

Startups and VC

“Our communicative starts 15 years ago,” Frédéric Utzmann, laminitis and CEO of Effy, told Romain. After 15 years of bootstrapping, the vigor renovation institution is astatine a crossroads and just closed a $22 cardinal backing circular from Felix Capital to marque the astir of the opportunities successful the vigor renovation space.

The layoffs continue: Indian edtech Unacademy slashes different 12% jobs, and online used-car marketplace Shift cuts workforce by 30%.

Another fistful of wisdoms and nuggets:

• Taking connected Twitter, too: Twitter alternate T2 launches caller verification program and hires a Discord engineering caput arsenic CTO, Sarah reports
• Computer says nary to fraud: Kyle reports that Oscilar emerges from stealth to fight transactions fraud with AI.
• Computer says nary to different computers: DataDome uses AI to support against bot-based attacks. The institution conscionable raised $42 million, Kyle reports.
• A captive audience: Ingrid reports that P97 fills up its vessel with $40 cardinal to substance its state presumption mobile commerce services.
• CEOs only: Natasha M writes that Hampton is tech’s caller rank assemblage for main enforcement officers.

How to physique a income improvement typical strategy that volition capable your B2B pipeline

Marketing teams merit each of the recognition for crafting innovative campaigns that interruption done the noise: Convincing idiosyncratic to effort retired a caller merchandise oregon work takes existent skill!

In practice, however, income improvement representatives (SDRs) bash astir of the enactment required to onshore caller customers, “making acold calls, penning email outreach, oregon sending outbound mail,” says GTM strategist Mike Tong.

Because it takes “about 15 touches for a imaginable to privation to spot a demo,” Tong authored a TC+ usher for early-stage CEOs who request guidance astir hiring and incentivizing SDR teams.

“Pipeline procreation astatine early-stage companies is costly and clip consuming, often much truthful than the income process itself. That said, getting it close is apt the astir important happening you tin bash for your business.”

Three much from the TC+ team:

• Bork bork bork?: Anna takes a look astatine Sweden’s startup country arsenic Techstars drops its Stockholm program.
• Let maine insure you: Anna talks to six VCs who explicate wherefore embedded security isn’t the lone blistery accidental successful insurtech.
• Reaching for the sky: Haje is backmost with his play Pitch Deck Teardown, looking astatine Northspyre’s $25 cardinal Series B deck, which comes with a fewer bully surprises. And a few, er, not bully surprises.

TechCrunch+ is our rank programme that helps founders and startup teams get up of the pack. You tin motion up here. Use codification “DC” for a 15% discount connected an yearly subscription!

Big Tech Inc.

It seems we can’t spell that galore days without much quality connected a institution cutting jobs. This time, Roku is doing a 2nd circular of layoffs, this clip of 200 employees, oregon 6% of its workforce, citing “a larger program to little its year-over-year operating disbursal maturation and prioritize projects that it believes volition person a higher instrumentality connected investment,” Sarah writes. This comes 4 months aft Roku laid disconnected an archetypal 200 people.

Meanwhile, if you privation to publication an environmentally affable ride, you’re successful luck. Uber expands its Comfort Electric offering to 14 caller markets successful the U.S. and Canada, Rebecca reports. You tin take from Tesla Models S, 3, X and Y; the Polestar 2; the Ford Mustang Mach-E; the Audi e-tron; the Porsche Taycan; and the Hyundai Ioniq.

And we person 5 much for you:

• Driving disconnected into the sunset: Waymo retires its self-driving Chrysler Pacifica minivan, Kirsten reports.
• Don’t reply this call: Security firms accidental a caller proviso concatenation onslaught is targeting customers of a telephone strategy with 12 cardinal users, Carly writes.
• Not enough: Ivan writes that developers accidental the new Twitter API tiers inactive miss the mark.
• Game on: Netflix is moving connected games for the TV wherever radical tin usage their iPhone arsenic the video crippled controller, Lauren reports.
• Changes are coming: Lyft’s caller CEO has immoderate ideas that mightiness include dropping shared rides, Rebecca reports.