Mo' chips, mo' problems

Either Amazon and Apple were hacked by Chinese spies or Bloomberg’s taking crazy pills

It sounds like the plot of a made-for-TV Tom Cruise movie, but a Bloomberg report claims it’s true: Chinese spies installed malicious chips in motherboards and distributed them to 30 American businesses (including Amazon and Apple) through a company called Supermicro.

The companies involved disputed “virtually every aspect of Bloomberg’s story” (Apple’s words). But, the bombshell accusations rattled the tech sector, which will likely suffer as investigations continue.

The accusation: Supply, supply, supply

Chinese spies allegedly compromised the global tech supply chain by implanting rice-sized chips in tech exports at 4 Chinese subcontracting factories and then shipping them internationally.

And it gets worse -- according to Bloomberg, the microchips enabled hackers to remotely enter and manipulate infected networks, part of a long-term plot to access “high-value corporate secrets” and “sensitive government networks.”

According to the article, the “big hack” was the largest tech supply chain attack in history, and it’s been under investigation for 3 years. But not all parties agreed with Bloomberg’s reporting...

The rebuttal: Deny, deny, deny

Every major player in the story rejected Bloomberg’s claims:

• “We have found no evidence to support [Bloomberg’s inquiries].” -- Apple
• “There are so many inaccuracies… they’re hard to count.” -- Amazon
• “We are not aware of any investigation regarding this topic.” -- Supermicro

So, who’s lying? For now, it’s a game of “he said, she said.” Bloomberg claims to have 17 sources on record -- including 6 current and former national security officials, 3 Apple insiders, and 2 Amazon employees.

The fallout: Sell! Sell! Sell!

So what’s next?

Regardless of the outcome, American companies will likely further reduce trade with Chinese suppliers (a process that’s begun already thanks to White House trade sanctions).

But investors aren’t excited about the expensive prospect of finding new tech suppliers to replace China in the highly interdependent global supply chain.

Stocks at Amazon and Apple dipped slightly, and the Nasdaq had its worst day since June. Things are looking especially un-Super for Supermicro -- the company’s stock fell more than 50% following the exposé.

ZipRecruiter raises $156m at a $1.5B valuation -- now owns 10% of the recruitment market

The Los Angeles-based job posting platform has recruited $156m in new funding co-led by IVP and Wellington Management at an impressive $1.5B valuation.

ZipRecruiter has now raised $219m in total, in just 2 rounds since launching in 2010 -- and, they were profitable before borrowing a dime.

Well, that’s refreshing…

ZipRecruiter has carved out a marketplace for employers to post open positions and, through the power of AI, help job-seekers connect to openings that best match their skills and interests.

These days, they’re a post-money unicorn leading the job recruitment pack.

According to co-founder and CEO Ian Siegel, over 100k businesses are using ZR for their recruiting and the company accounts for 10% of all activity in the entire US recruitment market.

Not a bad resume…

Now they want to show you the jobs you aren’t qualified for.

Bloomberg reports that ZipRecruiter will spend a large amount of the fresh tickle cash honing their machine-learning processes.

One day it hopes to use their tech to show people the jobs they would like but may not be qualified for -- and then gamify the path to get there.

“In the not too distant future, we will be able to say, ‘If you add one more skill all these jobs will become available to you,’” Siegel said.

You know what they say, “Gotta raise for the company you want…”

Weather forecasting startup, ClimaCell, tracks a $45m funding round

ClimaCell, a Boston-based startup that uses cell phone and loT data for short-term, “hyper-local” weather forecasting, raised $45m in Series B funding, bringing its total raised to $65m.

And a whole mess of big names were in on it: Clearvision Ventures led and was joined by Ford Smart Mobility, Envision Ventures plus a host of return backers.

How exactly does it work?

The gist is, atmospheric changes affect signals transmitted between cell towers and mobile phones.

ClimaCell devised a software program to measure the impact and provide super-accurate weather observations about your immediate surroundings (reportedly up to 6 hours in the future).

Do we really need to be that precise when it comes to weather?

Turns out, it’s more important than figuring out whether to bring a jacket.

It’s actually a huge friggin’ deal to the entire agriculture industry, airlines, ride-hailing services, and self-driving vehicles.

In fact, according to National Weather Service estimates, weather effects can swing America’s GDP by up to 6%. In other words, ClimaCell can tell companies if their future is cloudy with a chance of economic depression.

Scooter madness: Bird designs its own scooters to stay 2 wheels ahead of Uber

Bird, the $2B startup that foot-pushed its way to the front of the scooter-corn stampede, announced yesterday that it’s now designing its own 2-wheeler, the Bird Zero.

CEO Travis VanderZanden hopes new wheels will keep Bird up in the air despite its regulatory roller coaster…

But, Uber’s hot on its tail

Just last month, Uber rolled out its JUMP scooters in Santa Monica (Bird’s hometown).

Uber has another huge advantage over smaller, scooter-first companies: As VC Sunil Paul reminded us all in his rant earlier this year, Uber already dominates demand with a network of 41m+ riders.

But this is just the semis

Lime, Bird, and Spin all launched with the same scooter supplier, Ninebot. But now Bird’s trying to take control of supply to gain an edge (the Bird Zero holds 60% more battery than old models).

But all of Bird’s competitors had the same idea: Lime partnered with Segway to produce scooters, and Spin also has DIY plans. Meanwhile, Lyft and Uber are working to get their massive user bases out on 2 wheels.

While scooter startups (Bird, Lime, Spin) struggle for supply superiority, ride-share giants (Lyft, Uber) duke it out for demand dominance -- and the winners will have to go head-to-head in the final scooter showdown.

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