The techcrunch event in the city of Sequoia Capital, Lardinois was a big success and it was nice to see so many people there. However, the thing that is most surprising is the fact that some of the best new products that came out at the event are made by companies that we haven’t heard of yet. Here are some of the most interesting ones:
FTX
The collapse of crypto exchange FTX has shaken the market and set off fears of crypto contagion. Investors, regulators, and web3 startups are trying to figure out what to do next.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of Alameda Research and the former CEO of FTX, is facing a wide range of legal and regulatory scrutiny. He is also reportedly under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. FTX’s assets are worth more than the value of new liabilities, Bankman-Fried told the Nassau County Court. But the question remains: will the resulting payout to FTX’s backers bring about a return on their investment?
Sequoia Capital, a firm that owns a stake in FTX, has marked down its investment. Investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners, VanEck, Third Point, Senator Investment Group, and Thoma Bravo.
According to reports, the Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into FTX’s relationships with Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire. In a letter sent to investors, Sequoia warned that any investments made by the firm were subject to extensive due diligence.
Memfault
Memfault is a startup that helps software and hardware developers manage their connected devices at scale. It offers a software development kit (SDK) and an OTA update client that are designed to stream diagnostic information to the cloud and then identify and deduplicate error reports. In return, customers can capture and fix firmware issues before they are released to the public.
While the company is still in the earliest stages of development, it has received some early attention from tech behemoths like Logitech. They have already used the Memfault SDK to monitor their Android devices and are hoping to take advantage of the alerts it provides when the time is right.
One of the most important advantages of Memfault is that it reduces the engineering overhead associated with maintaining an ongoing fleet of connected devices. In addition, it allows teams to deploy OTA firmware updates without disrupting the user experience. The software also allows developers to inspect registers and customize metrics.
Inkling Systems
Inkling has made the transition from ebook provider to software as a service (SaaS) player. The startup is backed by some of the biggest names in the business. One notable investor is Ram Shriram. Other notable investors include Tenaya Capital and Sapphire Ventures. Founded in 2009, the company is now based in San Francisco. It boasts more than 100 customers. Among other things, the company’s flagship product is a downloadable and interactive digital textbook. However, its primary business is a cloud based document creation and sharing platform.
The company has also made a handful of other noteworthy announcements, including a partnership with textbook publisher McGraw-Hill. Not to be outdone, Starbucks has approached the company to migrate some of its binder-bound content over to its cloud-based solution. This is a particularly interesting endeavor since Starbucks’ e-commerce operations have a major mobile presence. As part of its latest round of funding, the company announced a $17 million round of financing.
Carl Eschenbach
Carl Eschenbach is a renowned American venture capitalist who is also a former president and COO of VMware. He is currently a member of the board of Workday, Zoom, and Aurora. In addition, he is a co-founder of Snowflake.
Eschenbach spent 14 years at VMware, including eight years as its chief operating officer. While there, he helped the company grow from $30 million in revenues to over $7 billion, and from a staff of 200 to 20,000. Before leaving, he was a key player in a number of high-profile deals.
In recent years, he served as a board member for companies like UiPath and Aurora, and has been a venture partner at Sequoia Capital. In addition to his board roles, he is a co-founder and venture capitalist at Snowflake, a data warehouse startup. And he’s also a co-founder and venture capitalist of Zoom, which is a cloud-based software company.
As a former athlete, Eschenbach earned Most Valuable Athlete awards for both wrestling and baseball in 1983 and 1985. He was also inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
