🚀 Y Combinator slows down

Plus, is this the first major fandom lawsuit?

Justine & Olivia Moore

Aug 7, 2022

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⬇️ YC cuts batch size. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a Y Combinator cohort of less than 300 companies - two years, to be exact! This week, YC confirmed a 40% cut in the class size for the current cohort, which will graduate 250 startups in August. Head of Communications Lindsay Amos told TechCrunch this was an intentional move due to funding environment changes. We suspect it may also have to do with YC going back in-person for the first time since COVID…

👩‍⚖️ Bridgerton heads to court. A TikTok “cinderella story” is ending in a lawsuit. Here’s what happened: composers Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear created a musical inspired by the Netflix series Bridgerton after floating the idea in a viral TikTok. The resulting 15-song album, released a year ago, ended up winning a Grammy! Netflix was initially supportive but is now suing, claiming that the duo infringed on valuable IP. Things reportedly went south when Barlow & Bear started selling tickets to shows - monetizing their work without giving Netflix a cut. More to come here!

💸 Major crypto hacks. On Tuesday, hackers withdrew $190M from Nomad, a platform that allows users to swap tokens between blockchains. A security flaw allowed anyone to duplicate the code used in the original hack, creating a “free-for-all” that many users were able to exploit. The next day, the Solana ecosystem came under attack - with $5M in tokens drained from thousands of wallets. This was reportedly due to a flaw in wallet software versus the Solana blockchain itself.

📊 Earnings updates. Tech earnings season continues. This week’s updates:

Lyft reported a 30% YoY increase in revenue, reaching new post-COVID highs for active riders and drivers. The company took “swift and decisive actions” in responding to the new economic environment, including closing its in-house rental car business, slowing hiring, and consolidating global operations.
DoorDash also saw a 30% YoY revenue increase. The company spent $40M on extra gas savings and mileage-based bonus payments for drivers to combat rising gas prices, but was still (adjusted) EBITDA profitable.
Uber reported a 33% YoY increase in gross bookings, largely due to a strong post-COVID bounceback in its ridehailing business. Despite high gas prices, the company saw an “acceleration” in growth of drivers on the platform.
Meanwhile, Block (fka Square) reported a 6% YoY decline in revenue. This was largely due to a drop in Bitcoin revenue, which was down 34% YoY. An interesting note from the shareholder letter - look for mobile commerce features to come to Cash App soon with the Afterpay acquisition 👀

what we’re following 👀

Would you pay $50,000 to appear on a podcast?

This week in TikTok-related content - Justine explained Spark Ads, while Olivia covered how startups can use TikTok for customer acquisition.

A look behind Shein’s success: a “ruthlessly efficient” supply chain.

Why Tinder is taking a step back from the metaverse.

Justine Moore @venturetwins

IMO, most dating apps today have gamified the experience TOO much. Swiping is now a form of entertainment instead of a commitment to meet people. It’s fun in the short term, but leads to low user satisfaction over time.

To swipe, or not to swipe? As Tinder approaches its tenth birthday, it feels like a good time to ask - is it time for another transformation in the dating app UI? Swiping was revolutionary (and came to dominate the dating space) because it’s so efficient! You can see and sort through dozens of options in minutes.

On the other hand…some users feel that swiping has become too impersonal and low commitment. “Option overload” means there’s a low likelihood that a swipe converts to a chat, let alone a date.

It’s time for the first ever Accelerated Twin Debate! 🥊

Now it’s your turn to vote….

Susa Ventures has opened applications for its next cohort of Venture Fellows - this is a really cool opportunity for aspiring VCs to get experience sourcing and evaluating startups alongside the Susa team. Apply here!