🚀 Etsy snags a deal

Plus, do you think sharing Spotify data is cringy?

Screenshot courtesy of @TurnerNovak on Twitter!

Piper Sandler released its much-anticipated “Taking Stock with Teens” report for spring 2021, with survey data from 7,000 Gen Zers.

In social apps, TikTok continues its rapid ascent. 71% of Gen Zers now report using the app daily, which puts it in third place behind Instagram (84%) and Snapchat (78%). TikTok and Snapchat are neck-and-neck for favorite social app (30% vs. 31%). TikTok’s share has been climbing from 13% last spring, while Snapchat’s share has been declining since fall 2019 - and Instagram’s has as well.

Some other fun stats on Gen Z from the report:

• 15% eat plant-based meats - Impossible Foods & Beyond Meat tied for #1

• 9% have traded crypto (81% of traders are male)

• 56% say Amazon is the favorite e-comm site, followed by Shein at 7%

• Netflix and YouTube are tied for share of video consumption (32% vs. 31%)

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news 📣

📱 TikTok targets biometric data. In TikTok’s new U.S. Privacy Policy, users noticed a big change - the company may collect “faceprints and voiceprints.” This is separate from the image/audio info already used for filters and special effects, and TikTok did not specify what the prints would be used for. TikTok settled a consumer biometrics lawsuit for $92M with the state of Illinois in February. Illinois, Washington, California, Texas, and New York are the only states with biometric privacy laws.

📈 Bark and SoFi go public via SPACs. More than 330 SPACs have raised money YTD, totaling $105B in funding. This week marked the SPAC debuts of two companies you’ve likely heard of - SoFi and Bark (parent co of BarkBox). SoFi jumped 12% and Bark rose 7% on their first days of trading, and both ended the week essentially flat. Check out Crunchbase’s data on VC-backed companies prepping to exit via SPAC - 23andMe, WeWork, and Bird are just a few of the startups expected to trade in 2021.

🚘 Cruise approved for driverless rides in CA. Cruise is now the first AV company permitted to give driverless passenger rides in the state of California. The company is not allowed to charge for these test rides, and will have to submit quarterly reports to regulators. Cruise is majority-owned by GM, but raised $2B at a $30B valuation in January. Waymo, Zoox, Aurora, Autox, Pony.ai, Voyage, and DeepRoute are also permitted for test rides, but need human backup drivers.

In other AV news, Aurora is reportedly in talks to go public via SPAC at a $12B valuation.

Apologies for the ~cursed~ Riverdale GIF, but it’s a good fit for the topic - read on!

Spotify launched a new campaign to help users better understand (and share) their unique listening habits - Only You. Unlike Spotify Wrapped, which focuses on the songs and artists you listened to the most in a year, Only You is oriented around listening patterns. This includes genres you switch between, songs you listen to at certain times of the day, and the top time periods of music you enjoy.

Spotify encourages Only You users to “share [this] with the world” - and just like Wrapped, the stories have been invading our Instagram and Twitter feeds! As more consumer apps have the data to generate these kinds of personalized reports (TikTok launched a similar “Year on TikTok” for 2020), we’re curious if/when fatigue starts to set in. Yes, it’s exciting to see your own personalized analytics - but is it exciting to see everyone else’s, especially when they come out more than once a year?

Do you enjoy consuming Wrapped-style content from your friends?

• ✅ Yes - the more, the better!

• 👍 Yes, but sparingly

• ❌ No, make it stop!

• 🤷 I don't really care

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what we’re following 👀

Krispy Kreme filed to IPO - we summarized key learnings from the S-1.

The International Olympics Committee gets into NFTs!

Coda founder Shishir Mehrotra breaks down YouTube’s hypergrowth period.

Internal Tech Emails resurfaces fascinating discussions that shaped the industry.

The NYT reports on the world’s largest crypto event, Bitcoin 2021, in Miami.

Justine & Olivia@venturetwins

Etsy is buying @depop for $1.63B! Fast facts: 💵 ~$650M GMV and $70M revenue last year 📈 2x+ YoY growth 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 4M active buyers + 2M active sellers 🛍️ 75% of sellers are also buyers 👧 ~90% of active users are <26 years old 🌍 Founded in 2011 in Italy, HQ in London

3:45 PM · Jun 2, 2021

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11 Reposts · 56 Likes

Big acquisition news this week! Handmade goods marketplace Etsy, a public company with a $21B market cap, bought fashion resale app Depop for $1.63B. This price tag represents a 2.5x multiple of Depop’s 2020 GMV, which feels like kind of a steal. We summarized some of Depop’s metrics here.

Depop was founded in Europe in 2011, but has since made a strong push into the U.S. The company was a new entrant to a16z’s 2021 Marketplace 100, and ranked in the top 10 fastest-growing companies. If you’re an avid user of TikTok, you've probably seen a Depop haul, as 90% of the user base is Gen Z! Superstar Olivia Rodrigo launched her own Depop store with merch from her music videos (and her personal closet) this week.

Compared to other resale shopping apps like thredUP and Poshmark, Depop has carved out a unique identity as the destination for Gen Z shoppers - the items listed skew young and trendy. Gen Zers will curate stores that fit a certain aesthetic, and drive traffic by listing their Depop URL in their social bios. Some even grow an audience on their store and schedule “drops” of items that sell fast.

These features makes Depop more of a social destination than the typical marketplace, which you can see in the company’s metrics. According to Etsy CEO Josh Silverman, 75% of Depop’s sellers are also buyers - this is astonishingly high!

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jobs 🎓

YC Continuity - Associate, Program Associate, Series A Program Manager (Remote)

Cathay Innovation - Associate (SF)

Beacons - Full-Stack Engineer, Product Designer (SF)

Coinbase - Chief of Staff to President & COO (SF)

First Round Capital - Chief of Staff (SF)

B Capital Group - Healthcare Associate (SF)

a16z - TxO Deal Analyst (Menlo Park)

TikTok - Ops Associate (LA)

Ensemble VC - Associate (Austin)

Boldstart Ventures - Associate (NYC)

Blackstone - Portfolio Ops Analyst (NYC)

Seated - Associate Product Manager (NYC, Remote)

internships 📝

Supergreat - Community Intern (Remote)

Verb Energy - Growth Marketing Intern (Remote)

Boosted Commerce - BD Intern (LA, Remote)

Berbix - MBA Marketing Intern (SF, Remote)

Prisma - Marketing Intern (Remote)

Zoom - Financial Analytics Intern (SF)

Kyte - PM Intern (SF)

Weee! - Biz Ops Intern (Fremont)

Poshmark - PM, PR Interns (Redwood City)

LogRocket - Growth Marketing & Sales Intern (Boston)

Boxed - Product Intern (NYC)

Tradeswell - Content Management, Sales Enablement, BD Interns (Baltimore)

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puppy of the week 🐶

Meet Murphy, a 1.5 year old sheepadoodle who lives in Minnesota.

Murphy enjoys running around in the forest, welcoming visitors to his house, and trying to avoid the summer heat (same, Murphy!).

Follow him on Instagram @murphy.in.minnesota!

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Hi! 👋 We’re Justine and Olivia Moore, identical twins and consumer investors. Thanks for reading Accelerated. We’d love your feedback - feel free to tweet us @venturetwins or email us at twins@crv.com.