Daily Crunch: Boston Dynamics shows off its next commercial robot

We’ve got the details on Boston Dynamics’ upcoming warehouse robot Stretch, Apple releases security patches and Cazoo is going public via SPAC. This is your Daily Crunch for March 29, 2021.

The big story: Boston Dynamics shows off its next commercial robot

Boston Robotics continues its transformation from research organization to commercial robotics company: Stretch is the company’s commercial version of Handle, a wheeled robot that could navigate around objects and pick up a 100-pound crate. With Stretch, the wheels have become less prominent, while the team has added a “perception mast” that allows the robot to see while it moves around and picks objects in a warehouse environment.

Stretch is currently in prototype form. The company plans to build the first units this summer and actually make it available for sale next year.

The tech giants

Apple releases iPhone, iPad and Watch security patches for zero-day bug under active attack — Apple said the vulnerability, discovered by security researchers at Google’s Project Zero, may have been “actively exploited” by hackers.

IBM launches its first quantum developer certification — The “IBM Quantum Developer Certification” focuses on IBM’s own software tools.

Startups, funding and venture capital

DiDi Chuxing expands to South Africa, to take on Bolt and Uber — Founded in 2012, the Beijing-based company claims to serve over 550 million users in 16 countries across Asia, Europe, Latin America and Australia.

Singular is a new Paris-based VC firm with $265M — Raffi Kamber and Jérémy Uzan want to build a leading European VC firm from Paris.

UK’s Cazoo will list on the NYSE by way of a SPAC, valuing it at $7B and raising $1.6B — The U.K. used-car sales portal has been on a major fundraising tear in the last year.

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch

The NFT craze will be a boon for lawyers — Legal implications are the crux of the NFT trend.

Will the pandemic spur a smart rebirth for cities? — In this time of urban reset, which smart city technologies will transform how we live our lives?

CEO Manish Chandra and investor Navin Chaddha explain why Poshmark’s Series A deck sings — Beyond TAM, founders should explain how they’ll reach key metrics.

(Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.)

Everything else

Visa supports transaction settlement with USDC stablecoin — Visa has announced that transactions can be settled using USD Coin, a stablecoin powered by the Ethereum blockchain.

US cuts trade ties to Myanmar, leaving internet access uncertain — In a statement, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the trade suspension would be “effective immediately” and will remain in place “until the return of a democratically elected government.”

TC Early Stage will dive deep on how to fundraise for your startup — Take a look at the fundraising sessions going down at TC Early Stage, which takes place later this week on April 1 and 2.

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