Tech Bytes Week of Jul 11
Tech News to Actionable Insights for Smart Business leaders
📰 Recent Top Tech News
Nextdoor, the local social network goes public at $4.3Bn
Yahoo Japan branding sold for life, worth $1.6 Bn
Didi, China’s Uber, blocked in China after US listing
The Takeaways
Nextdoor is a hyper-local social networking app that allows you to connect with people within a few kilometres around you. Nexdoor is going public at $4.3Bn, after 10 years in the making.
🔎 Our Take
Local social networking is seeing a surge, thanks to COVID changing circumstances locally (such as lockdowns and restrictions on travel). Facebook is also investing in a new feature called “Neighborhoods”, aiming to connect people within a smaller radius.
🧁 Your Takeaway
Local is the new social. Check out upcoming localised platforms to reach out to prospective customers, or friends. Keep in mind people expect more authenticity.
2. A perpetual license to the brand Yahoo! Japan has been acquired by SoftBank Group for $1.65Bn. Yahoo! brand sites still make up the 4 out of top 10 sites in Japan, with Yahoo! homepage bringing in the same number of users as Youtube.
🔎 Our Take
Yahoo! used to be the #1 website in the world, more popular than Google. Over time though, it has seen its popularity wane, and it is famous for missing out on licensing Google for $1mn, or even buying up Facebook for $1.1Bn. Yahoo! still retains a strong value in Japan by providing highly localised information such as weather, Q&A, and local news. Ongoing local updates make Yahoo! Japan a more useful portal than Google Japan.
🧁 Your Takeaway
Your business would often meet a range of customers, but your real fans might not be the ones you expect. Take a look at where you are seeing a small but passionate base, take time to understand why, and invest more into growing in that space.
3. Didi Chuxing, which dominates 90% of the ride-hailing market in China, recently listed in on NYSE, raising $4.4Bn. The next day, China launched an investigation into the ‘security of Didi, and then officially requested the apps be taken down.
🔎 Our Take
China has been going after their largest technology companies, realising that some of them have become so large that they have the ability to influence people significantly. Globally, big tech companies are under increasing review in many countries for their monopolistic tendencies, misuse of customer data and not doing enough to control misinformation.
🧁 Your Takeaway
We live in a society, with increased demands for data privacy and security. If you handle customer data, ensure that you have sufficient safeguards. Don’t forget to delete old data you no longer need. If you don’t need them, why do you have them.
Jargon Buster
Neobank: this refers to an Online-Only bank, i.e. a bank without any physical branches. A neobank usually has the license to issue credit cards and sometimes loans, often at better pricing compared to traditional banks.
Dear QTBees,
I came across a dialogue that went something like “You can hate it, you can love it, you can hate that you love it… [but people will still buy it]”.
It’s been resonating with me because no matter what you do, there will be someone who hates (or might just be jealous of) what you are doing, even though what you are doing is actually good.
Ignore them. You do you. Because you can, and you know you love it.
Stay Awesome!
Vishal
Founder & Director
Quantana
If you loved reading this on the site, then drop your email below to get the smartest takes on tech news, delivered straight to your inbox:
If you enjoyed this newsletter and know someone in your team or friends’ circle would find this useful, then forward it to them now. A single forward would be Magnificent! 😊