Spotify’s New Comment Section. Crunchyroll’s Lack of a Comment Section. The New Nothing Phone.

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Hey there, everybody. Happy to be back writing about the hottest things in tech and biz. I am typing this right before I go pick up a rental car in Hoboken. Someone warn the entire state of New Jersey.

Today we’re talking about Spotify’s new comment section, the new Nothing phone, and the latest fun things happening in New York, like sharks at the beach, Rohan's birthday bash, and the Aman Hotel's bougie Blade.

🤑 RAISES

• SewerAI, a sewer inspection startup whose platform helps wastewater professionals improve productivity and accuracy in maintaining aging collection systems, raised a $15M Series B round led by Innovius Capital. Need I say more? (Link)

• Volley, a sports tech startup making AI-based games played via voice commands, raised a $55M Series C led by M12 Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners. (Link)

• Noplace, a Gen Z-focused social media app offering a nostalgic interface reminiscent of early 2000s platforms like MySpace, raised a $15M Series A1 round. I need a high schooler to test this out and tell me what they think. I wasn’t old enough for MySpace but my babysitter had one and I was so jealous. (Link)

• Athletic Brewing, the largest and most decorated non-alcoholic brewery in America, raised $50M led by General Atlantic. During one of the weeks I didn’t publish (boooo), I saw they raised $2M in a follow-on investment from Connecticut Innovations. As someone who loves beer but gets hungover standing in the same room as a drink, I’ve tried a ton of nonalcholic beer and this one is by far my favorite. (Link)

• Byway, a curated package tour platform that focuses on slow and sustainable travel experiences and offering curated package tours that are flight-free, raised a £5M Series A led by Heartcore Capital. (Link)

• Uncaged Innovations, a New York-based developer of vegan leather from grains, raised a $5.6M seed co-led by Green Circle Foodtech Ventures and Fall Line Capital. (Link)

• BoldHue, a personalized beauty tech company launching a new device that offers a fully customizable foundation, raised a $3.4M seed led by Lucas Venture Group. This would have been a good response to the Youthforia backlash. (Link)

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🗞️ NEWS

Startups 

• Scale AI's $13.8B valuation from May's $1B round may be too high due to low margins and reliance on a few customers. (Link)

  • Previously in B&B: Music artist Zach Bryan and Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang are teaming up to build “the new library of alexandria”. In a thread, Wang said that they aim to “combine storytelling and culture with technology to create a new form factor for history.” I don’t know what this is exactly, but I’m excited to see what happens. Remember, the other co-founder of Scale AI was Twitfluencer Lucy Guo who is no longer there and is working on her new startup, a creator monetization platform called Passes. So much to get into here, but that’s another newsletter. (Link) 

• Nothing unveils the $199 CMF Phone 1, the $69 CMF Watch Pro 2, and the $59 CMF Buds Pro 2. The phone looks impressive; I can’t wait to watch some reviews. I have a pair of their older earbuds, and they're not great, to be honest. They fall out and feel like a McDonald's Happy Meal toy, and I think I bought them for around $100. (Link)

• Duolingo is acquiring Detroit-based animation studio Hobbes to create its first dedicated motion design team. Duolingo has always been great at advertising themselves and is very on top of the game with trends; looking forward to what will come from a stronger design team! (Link)

BigTech 

• YouTube's latest Culture & Trends report reveals that 65% of Gen Z identify as video content creators, though only 8% earn money from it. Fan content is on the rise, with 57% watching fan-made videos and 66% spending more time on reaction videos than the originals. (Link) 

AI

• About a third of US nuclear power plant owners are in talks with tech companies to supply electricity to new data centers for AI. This is WILD to me. (Link)

• Bumble dropped a feature to report profiles using AI-generated photos and videos. As editing tools using AI become more native in photo apps, I wonder how that will impact our dating experiences. Or catfishing experiences. (Link)

• Instagram's 'Made with AI' label was changed to 'AI info' after photographers complained it incorrectly tagged real-life photos edited with tools like Photoshop. (Link) 

The Comment Section 

• Spotify dropped a new comments feature for podcasts, allowing more interaction between creators and listeners. This comes after YouTube became the leading podcast platform in the US, surpassing both Spotify and Apple. If Spotify has comments… what is keeping it from just being YouTube? What makes a podcast so special if you can’t have your own, uninterrupted opinion about it? From a producer standpoint, I’m excited. From a listener standpoint, I don’t think I like it.  (Link) 

• Crunchyroll disables comments and reviews to reduce harmful content, possibly due to negative review bombing of a new LGBTQ anime, "Twilight Out of Focus." (Link) 

New York 

• There are sharks in New York, and they are shutting down beaches. (Link) 

• One of my favorite places to work from, Luz Cafe, shut down a while ago. It had a beautiful backyard and very inconsistent hours. It will now be home to Cecilia, an Italian joint opening later this summer. It better be good. (Link) 

@luzcafenewyorkcity

📍Luz Cafe. 97 St Marks Pl. #luzcafe

• Guests at the Aman in New York can now take a helicopter to Storm King Art Center in upstate New York. For reference, stays are more than $2K a night. (Link) 

• Tonight is Rohan’s birthday party, and I’m guessing it will be a highlight of the summer. Let me know how it goes.

Random 

• The Core Club, a high-end executive club with locations in SF and Milan, is suing developer Michael Shvo for $600M for not meeting their agreement. . (Link)

  • Related, I read in Feed Me that Milan is becoming the hotspot for member-clubs. “Milan is becoming a members-club town. Casa Cipriani has a location there. The Core Club has a location there. And now a villa that previously belonged to Santo Versace (brother of Donatella) and his family in central Milan is being turned into the first The Wilde members club. Gary Landesberg is leading the project, and I found out he is also working on a members club in Los Angeles with Gwyneth Paltrow – a West Coast location of London’s Arts Club. Yes, there will be a helipad on the roof for exciting entrances.” (Feed Me) 

• Drugs are becoming cheaper, but everything else is getting more expensive. People are saying this could be the summer of Ketamine.. (Link)

🧠 BRAIN DUMPS

• If you want to break into the ad industry and are interested in short form content, let me know! I think you’d be a great fit for One Creator Lab.

  • “ONE Creator Lab is a tuition-free program designed to help content creators learn the skills required to launch their careers in the advertising and marketing industry. As part of a creative team at an agency or brand, creators can bring their passion for making content and collaborate with art directors, copywriters, producers and strategists to bring branded campaigns to life.” (Link)

Until next time,
Rachel Braun

P.S. I read all my emails! If you have feedback, a question, or just want to say hello, please do so by responding to this newsletter or by emailing [email protected] 💌