01/19/2021: Weekly Newsletter
I couldn’t bring myself to write something about FinTech for the intro to the newsletter this week. The only thing I could think about is that ~4 years ago, I walked with millions of other women (and supportive men!) to make it known that women’s equality was still a work-in-progress—a status quo that clearly has not yet been reached despite the many generations before that have fought for women’s rights.
Each woman and man shared his or her own reason for walking in that march 4 years ago. For me, it was to make a point—that there still is a shocking amount of misogyny, implicit bias, and lack of self-awareness on the part of those that perpetuate the inequality.
Now, almost exactly 4 years to the day, a woman will be sworn in to the highest position of power a woman has held so far in the United States. Whatever your politics, I think we can all agree that this calls for a moment for pause. And…despite what seems like a most dire moment in our history…to see a little light at the end of the tunnel.
One would hope that this change could occur seamlessly—that those who perpetuate the inequality would wake up and suddenly get with the program. But unfortunately, it requires persistent activism, universal effort, and fortitude for glacial change. With all the tools and technologies at our disposal today, one would think we could do better going forward—not just for gender equality, but also to BLM, LGBTQ rights, and a number of other causes and peoples who are oppressed, suppressed, and microaggressed.
Money & Crypto
An overview of Airbnb’s bookings, revenues, and losses
Visa’s acquisition of Plaid blocked by DOJ
IPOs: Affirm raised $1.2B, Poshmark raised $~250M, LivoVox to go public through SPAC, Each woman and man shared his or her own reason for walking in that march 4 years ago.
Fundraising: Deliveroo (British food-delivery) raised $180M, Rapyd (FinTech) raised $300M
Tech
Highlights from this year’s CES conference by Wired
The best technology of all time? How the wheel was invented
I am in awe at how this is possible: Virgin Orbit successfully launches rocket from a 747. I was also wondering why this is so important, but the Wired article has a great quote that sums this up: “But Pomerantz says that Virgin Orbit offers something that none of its competitors can: freedom. There are only a handful of spaceports in the world that can launch rockets to orbit, and not all of these can get a satellite or spacecraft where it needs to go. If you want to launch something to the International Space Station, for instance, your best bet is to take off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. If you want to put a satellite in orbit over the poles, you should probably launch from Alaska or California. Since Virgin Orbit’s rocket is launched from a plane, it can take off from any airport in the world that will allow it, and can tailor the launch location to the customer’s orbital needs.”
Etc.
“Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King resonates as true as ever. The Atlantic has it on its site in honor of yesterday’s MLK holiday.
A powerful and heartbreaking collection of text messages sent to loved ones who passed away from COVID
Code Name Hélène was an amazing novel based on the true-life story of Nancy Wake, intrepid reporter and resistance fighter during WW2
♫ I binged this true-crime podcast, The Thing About Pam, in about a day.
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