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SpaceX’s grand vision for Starship, the next-generation spacecraft it’s currently in the process of developing, includes not only trips to Mars, but also regular point-to-point flights right here on Earth. These would skim the Earth’s outer atmosphere, reducing travel times for regular international flights from many hours to around 30 minutes. They’ll need to take off from somewhere, however, and rockets are a bit more disturbing to their local environs than traditional aircraft, so part of SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s plan for their regular use is covering oil rig platforms into floating spaceports.
Musk has talked about these plans before, and SpaceX recently went so far as to purchase two rigs – which it nicknamed Phoibos and Deimos after the moons of Mars. These are currently in the process of being retrofitted for use with Starship, and they’ll be stationed in the Gulf of Mexico near SpaceX’s Brownsville, Texas development site.
On Wednesday, Musk said on Twitter that one of the two platforms could be at least partially operational by the end of 2021. The SpaceX CEO is known for his optimistic timelines, but a lot of them have actually been relatively accurate lately – or at least not quite as unrealistic as in years past.
One of them may be in limited operation by end of year
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 24, 2021
What he means by “in limited operation” isn’t necessarily clear. That could mean that they’re floating where they’re supposed to be, and technically capable of playing host to a Starship prototype, but not that SpaceX will be actively launching Starships from one by end of year. He did add that the plan is to put floating launchpads for Starship not only in the Gulf, but also at various points around the world – which is in keeping with the bold plan he shared via CG concept videos when Starship debuted, which depicted launch and landing facilities stationed in bodies of water near urban destinations.
The European Union has kicked off the first stage of a consultation process involving gig platforms and workers. Regional lawmakers have said they want to improve working conditions for people who provide labor via platforms which EU digital policy chief, Margrethe Vestager, accepted in a speech today can be “poor” and “precarious”.
Yet she also made it clear the Commission’s agenda vis-a-vis the issue of gig work is to find some kind of “balance” between (poor) platform work and, er, good and stable (rights protected) employment.
There’s no detail yet on how exactly regional lawmakers plan to square the circle of giving gig platforms a continued pass on not providing good/stable work — given that their sustainability as businesses (still with only theoretical profits, in many cases) is chain-linked to not shelling out for the full suite of employment rights for the thousands of people they rely upon to be engaged in the sweating toil of delivering their service off the corporate payroll.
But that, presumably, is what the Commission’s consultation process is aimed at figuring out. Baked into the first stage of the process is getting the two sides together to try to hash out what better looks like.
“The platform economy is here to stay — new technologies, new sources of knowledge, new forms of work will shape the world in the years ahead,” said Vestager, segueing into a red-line that there must be no reduction in the rights or the social safety net for platform workers (NB: The word ‘should’ is doing rather a lot of heavy lifting here): “And for all of our work on the digital economy, these new opportunities must not come with different rights. Online just as offline, all people should be protected and allowed to work safely and with dignity.”
“The key issue in our consultations is to find a balance between making the most of the opportunities of the platform economy and ensuring that the social rights of people working in it are the same as in the traditional economy,” she also said, adding: “It is also a matter of a fair competition and level playing field between platforms and traditional companies that have higher labour costs because they are subject to traditional labour laws.”
The Commission’s two-stage consultation process on gig work starts with a consultation of “social partners” on “the need and direction of possible EU action to improve the working conditions in platform work”, as it puts it.
This will be open for at least six weeks. It will involve platforms talking with workers (and/or their representatives) to try to come up with agreement on what ‘better’ looks like in the context of platform working conditions, either to steer the direction of any Commission initiative. Or — else — to kick the legislative can down the road on said initiative if they can come up with stuff they can agree to implement themselves.
The second phase — assuming the “social partners” don’t agree on and implement a way forward themselves — is planned to take place before the summer and will focus on “the content of the initiative”, per Vestager. (Aka: what exactly the EU ends up proposing to square the circle that must be squared.)
The competition component of the gig work conundrum — whereby there’s also the ’employer fairness’ dynamic to consider, given platforms aren’t playing by the same rules as traditional employers so are potentially undercutting rivals who are offering those good and stable jobs — explains why the Commission is launching a competition-focused parallel consultation alongside the social stakeholder chats.
“We will soon start a public consultation on this initiative that has another legal base since it is about competition law and not social policies. This is the reason why we consult differently on the two initiatives,” noted Vestager.
She said this will aim to ensure that EU competition rules “do not stand in the way of collective bargaining for those who need it” — suggesting the Commission is hoping that collective bargaining will form some part of the solution to achieving the sought for (precarious) balance of ‘better’ platform work.
Albeit, a cynical person might predict the end goal of all this solicitation of views will probably be some kind of fudge — that offers the perception of a plug for the platform rights gap without actually disrupting the platform economy which Vestager has sworn is here to say.
Uber for one has scented opportunity in the Commission’s talk of improving “legal clarity” for platforms.
The ride-hailing giant put out a white paper last week in which it lobbied lawmakers to deregulate platform work — pushing for a Prop-22 style outcome in Europe, having succeeded in getting a carve out from tightened employment laws in California.
Expect other platforms to follow with similarly self-serving suggestions aimed at encouraging Europe’s social contract to be retooled at the points where it intersects with their business models. (Last week Uber was accused of intentionally stalling on improving conditions for workers in favor of lobbying for deregulation, for example.)
The start of the Commission’s gig work consultation come hard on heels of a landmark ruling by the UK’s Supreme Court (also last week) — which dismissed Uber’s final appeal against a long running employment tribunal.
The judges cemented the view that the group of drivers who sued Uber had indeed been erroneously classified as ‘self employed’, making Uber liable to pay compensation for the rights it should have been funding all along.
So if the EU ends up offering a lower level of employment rights to platform workers vis-a-vis the (post-brexit) UK that would surely make for some uncomfortable faces in Brussels.
While it may be unrealistic to talk about striking a ‘balance’ in the context of business models that are inherently imbalanced, given they’re based on dodging existing employment regulations and disrupting the usual social playbook for profit, he Commission seems to think that a consultation process and a network of overlapping regulations is the way to rein in the worst excesses of the gig economy/big tech more generally.
In a press release about the consultation, it notes that platform work is “developing rapidly” across various business sectors in the region.
“It can offer increased flexibility, job opportunities and additional revenue, including for people who might find it more difficult to enter the traditional labour market,” it writes, starting with some of the positives that are, pesumably, feeding its desire for a ‘balanced’ outcome.
“However, certain types of platform work are also associated with precarious working conditions, reflected in the lack of transparency and predictability of contractual arrangements, health and safety challenges, and insufficient access to social protection. Additional challenges related to platform work include its cross-border dimension and the issue of algorithmic management.”
It also notes the role of the coronavirus pandemic in both accelerating uptake of platform work and increasing concern about the “vulnerable situation” of gig workers — who may have to choose between earning money and risking their health (and the health of other people) via working and thus potential viral exposure.
The Commission reports that around 11% of the EU workforce (some 24 million people) say they have already provided services through a platform.
Vestager said most of these people “only have platform work as a secondary or a marginal source of income” — but added that some three million people do it as a main job.
And just imagine the cost to gig platforms if those three million people had to be put on the payroll in Europe…
In the bit of her speech leading up to her conclusion that platform work is here to stay, Vestager quoted a recent study she said had indicated that 35% to 55% of consumers say they intend to continue to ask for home delivery more in the future.
“We… see that the platform economy is growing rapidly,” she added. “Worldwide, the online labour platform market has grown by 30% over a period of 2 years. This growth is expected to continue and the number of people working through platforms is expected to become more significant in the years ahead.”
“European values are at the heart of our work to shape Europe’s digital future,” she also went on, taking her cue to point to the smorgasbord of digital regulations in the EU’s pipeline — and perhaps illustrating the concept of an overlapping regulatory net that the Commission intends to straightjacket platform giants into more socially acceptable and fair behavior (though it hasn’t yet).
“Our proposals from December for a Digital Services Act and a Digital Markets Act are meant to protect us as consumers if technology poses a risk to fundamental rights. In April we will follow up on our white paper on Artificial Intelligence from last year and our upcoming proposal will also have the aim to protect us as citizens. The fairness aspect and the integration of European values will also be a driver for our upcoming proposal on a digital tax that we plan to present before summer.
“All these initiatives are part of our ambition to balance the great potential that the digital transformation holds for our societies and economies.”
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/24/europe-kicks-off-bid-to-find-a-route-to-better-gig-work/
Apple supplier Foxconn Technology Group has reached a tentative agreement with electric vehicle startup-turned-SPAC Fisker to develop and eventually manufacture an EV that will be sold in North America, Europe, China and India.
Fisker and Foxconn said Wednesday that a memorandum of understanding agreement has been signed. Discussions between the two companies will continue with the expectation that a formal partnership agreement will be reached during the second quarter of this year.
Under the agreement, Foxconn will begin production in the fourth quarter of 2023 with a projected annual volume of more than 250,000 vehicles. The electric vehicle will carry the Fisker brand.
Foxconn Technology Group Chairman Young-way Liu touted the company’s vertically integrated global supply chain and accumulated engineering capabilities, noting that it gives the company two major advantages in the development and manufacturing of the key elements of an EV, which includes the electric motor, electric control module and battery.
That supply chain and ability to scale engineering quickly will be critical for Foxconn if it hopes to meet its production target.
“The collaboration between our firms means that it will only take 24 months to produce the next Fisker vehicle — from research and development to production, reducing half of the traditional time required to bring a new vehicle to market,” Young-way Liu said in a statement.
Fisker said production of the Ocean SUV — its first EV and one that is supposed to be built by contract manufacturer Magna — will begin in the fourth quarter of 2022. The company said it plans to unveil a production-intent prototype of the Ocean later this year.
This is not Foxconn’s first foray into electric vehicle manufacturing.
Foxconn announced in January 2020 that it had formed a joint venture with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to build electric vehicles in China. Under that agreement, each party will own 50% of the venture to develop and manufacture electric vehicles and engage in an IOV, what Foxconn parent company Hon Hai calls the “internet of vehicles” business.
Last month, Foxconn and Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group agreed to form a joint venture focused on contract manufacturing for automakers, with a specific focus on electrification, connectivity and autonomous driving technology as well as vehicles designed for sharing.
The joint venture between Foxconn and Geely will provide consulting services on whole vehicles, parts, intelligent drive systems and other automotive ecosystem platforms to automakers as well as ridesharing companies. Geely said it will bring its experience in the automotive fields of design, engineering, R&D, intelligent manufacturing, supply chain management and quality control while Foxconn will bring its manufacturing and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) know-how.
This morning MealMe.ai, a food search engine, announced that it has closed a $900,000 pre-seed round. Palm Drive Capital led the round, with participation from Slow Ventures and CP Ventures.
TechCrunch first became familiar with MealMe when it presented as part of the Techstars Atlanta demo day last October, mentioning it in a roundup of favorite startups from a group of the accelerator’s startup cohorts.
The company’s product allows users to search for food, or a restaurant. It then displays price points from various food-delivery apps for what the user wants to eat and have delivered. And, notably, MealMe allows for in-app checkout, regardless of the selected provider.
The service could boost pricing and delivery-speed transparency amongst the different apps that help folks eat, like DoorDash and Uber Eats. But Mealme didn’t start out looking to build a search engine. Instead it took a few changes in direction to get there.
From social network to search engine
MealMe is an example of a startup whose first idea proved only directionally correct. The company began life as a food-focused social network, co-founder Matthew Bouchner told TechCrunch. That iteration of the service allowed users to view posted food pictures, and then find ordering options for what they saw.
While still operating as a social network, MealMe applied to both Y Combinator and Techstars, but wasn’t accepted at either.
The startup discovered that some of its users were posting food pics simply to get the service to tell them which delivery services would be able to bring them what they wanted. From that learning the company focused on building a food search engine, allowing users to search for restaurants, and then vet various delivery options and prices. That iteration of the product got the company into Techstars Atlanta, eventually leading to the demo day that TechCrunch reviewed.
During its time in Techstars, the company adjusted its model to not merely link to DoorDash and others, but to handle checkout inside of its own application. This captures more gross merchandize value (GMV) inside of MealMe, Bouchner explained in an interview. The capability was rolled out in September of 2020.
Since then the company has seen rapid growth, which it measures at around 20% week-on-week. During TechCrunch’s interview with MealMe, the company said that it had reached a GMV run rate of more than $500,000, and was scaling toward the $1 million mark. In the intervening weeks the company passed the $1 million GMV run-rate threshold.
MealMe was slightly coy on its business model, but it appears to make margin between what it charges users for orders and the total revenue it passes along to food delivery apps.
TechCrunch was curious about platform risk at MealMe; could the company get away with offering price comparison and ordering across multiple third-party delivery services without raising the ire of the companies behind those apps? At the time of our interview, Bouchner said that his company had not seen pushback from the services it sends users to. His company’s goal is to grow quickly, become a useful revenue source for the DoorDashes of the world, and then reach out for some of formal agreement, he explained.
“We continue to be a powerful revenue generator and drive thousands of orders to food delivery services per week,” the co-founder said in a written statement. Certainly MealMe found investors more excited by its growth than concerned about Uber Eats or other apps cutting the startup off from their service.
What first caught my eye about MealMe was the realization of how much I would have used it in my early 20s. Perhaps the company can find enough users like my younger self to help it scale to sufficient size that it can go to the major food ordering companies and demand a cut, not merely avoid being cut off.
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/24/mealme-raises-900000-for-its-food-search-engine/
Employers today often use perks to attract new talent in the form of discounts and deals, commuter funds, gym memberships, childcare, free lunches and more. But the pandemic has impacted what sort of in-office or other in-person perks employees can access. That’s led to booming growth — and now, a fundraise — for a startup called Fringe, which offers companies a personalized marketplace of perks that people really want, like Netflix, Uber, Airbnb, DoorDash, Headspace, Talkspace and over 100 other apps.
The idea for Fringe came about from the co-founders’ work as financial advisors where they regularly found themselves consulting people who were weighing new job options and their associated benefits.
“Companies are spending a lot money on traditional benefits…$800, $1,000 a month per person. But the perceived value for most employees is relatively small, given the cost,” explains Fringe CEO Jordan Peace. “I started thinking about what could [companies] offer employees that would be a pretty low actual cost, but a really high perceived value?”
He landed on the idea of subscription services — things people use all the time in their daily lives, but sometimes feel just out of reach from a budgetary standpoint.
That’s where Fringe comes in.
Employers sign up for access to Fringe’s platform at a starting cost of $5 per employee per month. (The rate may decrease for larger organizations.) They then place the dollars they would normally spend on lifestyle benefits into the Fringe accounts of their employees, where they’re converted to “points” that can be spent on any of the apps and services.
Fringe Platform Walkthrough from Fringe on Vimeo.
Today, the marketplace offers a range of benefits, including streaming services like Netflix, Spotify, Disney+, and Audible, as well as virtual fitness, virtual coaching and wellness, online therapy like Talkspace, food and grocery delivery, like Grubhub, Uber Eats, Instacart, and Shipt, prepackaged meals, childcare like UrbanSitter, and more.
In the U.S., there are 135 services partners to choose from, with another couple hundred that are available overseas.
The startup’s business model involves negotiating a discount of anywhere from 10% to up to 60% off these services, which it passes along to the employees through its points back (rebate) system. Initially, it only allowed employees to spend their employer-provided lifestyle benefits dollars on Fringe. But due to user demand, it later opened up to allow employees to spend their own money, too — a feature they wanted specifically because of the points back.
Fringe first launched in 2019 — well ahead of the pandemic — and saw some slow but steady growth. It ended the year with 15 clients, representing a couple of hundred employees in total.
But then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which sent a number of employees to work from home in a radical change to business culture that appears to have lasting impacts.
“After the dust settled from the first few months of COVID, we started getting 10…20 times more inbound interest,” Peace says, as companies realized Fringe could be a way to support their employees working from home.
“We were just in the right place at the right time to begin to profit from this changed workplace. And it’s not just a ‘pandemic perk.’ We’re going to get past COVID, and we’re still going to have two-thirds of people working from home. The workplace has changed,” he adds.
Image Credits: Fringe CEO Jordan Peace
By the end of 2020, Fringe had grown its client base to over 70 employers, representing now over 12,000 users on its platform. Today, its pipeline includes companies with between 200 and 2,000 employees — a sweet spot that allows them to move relatively quickly. This client base often includes tech companies, like car-sharing startup Turo or talent management system Cornerstone OnDemand, for example.
This year, Fringe expects to grow to well over 100,000 users on its platform, and increase its own team’s headcount, which is today around 20. It also plans to update its marketplace website to include things like automatic point gifting, charitable giving, new Slack integrations, improved navigation, and more.
As a result of the recent growth, Fringe has raised $2.2 million in new funding, in a round led by Sovereign’s Capital, with participation from Felton Group, Manchester Story, the Center for Innovative Technology, and angel investors, including Jaffray Woodriff. As part of this investment, the company also added longtime advisor William Boland, Senior Director of Corporate Development and Strategy at Mission Lane, to its Board of Directors.
With the addition of the new funds, the startup’s total raise to date is $4 million.
Fringe believes the advantage of its marketplace is that it can be personalized to the user. Typically, employers determine what benefits to offer by running employee surveys, where the majority wins. That’s why many companies today provide perks like backup child care or discounted gym access. But this system discounts the minority’s needs — people who may not have kids or don’t want to work out. People who wish they could use their benefits dollars in a different way.
In addition to employee perks, Fringe believes that having so many subscriptions under one roof could present other opportunities further down the line.
Woodriff, for example, sees Fringe’s potential as a big data play, in terms of who is signing up for what subscriptions and why.
“But if you think about the fact that you’ve got a subscription service marketplace…there’s more applications to that than just employee benefits,” Peace explains. “I’d like our Series A to be to be predicated upon the much greater total addressable market. And so I think we’re going to spend the next year to 18 months laying down concrete plans and building the tech to be ready to roll out a couple of different use cases,” he says.
