Startups Struggle After Ukraine Invasion – TechCrunch

Welcome to Startups Weekly, a fresh look at this week’s startup news and trends. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.

I’m doing an abbreviated newsletter this week as I want to spend most of my energy supporting the brave journalists on the ground reporting on this terrible time. As many have said – much more eloquent than me — the invasion of Ukraine is a story that affects us all, whether we are on the ground there or not. And it’s hard to celebrate a funding round when the timing is terrible.

My brilliant colleagues put together a story on how the tech industry responded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine; I urge you to read it. Although the situation is still ongoing, it is clear that this is now technological history. And startups like Grammarly, Ajax, People AI and Preply, backed by some of the world’s biggest VCs, are scrambling to support employees and operations amid the invasion.

What I hear from sources is that startup founders mainly offer financial assistance to employees who are in Ukraine or neighboring countries. The money is supposed to help flee the country. WhatsApp groups also form between founders to see what the best course of action is; expect centers with asylum information or resources to be deployed far and wide.

Then there are startups that could actually impact the way consumers receive or share information amid a new war. One reaction of note was that of Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince, who said the company had “removed all Cloudflare customer cryptographic materials from servers in Ukraine” in response to the new war. The move is an attempt to protect customer data in case the data center, which opened in Kyiv in 2016, is compromised.

Michael Seibel, president of Y Combinator, asked a question on everyone’s mind: “Fair question, if US tech companies were working together right now – what could they do to stop Putin’s invasion?” As you can tell from the responses, there is no perfect answer.

As my colleague Zach Whittaker said, our mission at TechCrunch remains the same. “We’re still a tech news pub with a focus on business, finance and startups. We are still doing this day in and day out and the invasion will affect many things. So, as you would with any other major event, we adjust our tone and serve our audience the best we can by telling them what they need to know.”

Reminder: You can always take a break, close this tab, and give yourself grace. And, as always, you can support me by sharing this newsletter, follow me on twitter or subscribe to my personal blog.

Deal of the week

Gloria Lin, the brain behind ApplePay, has a new startup: Siteline. Senior reporter Mary Ann Azevedo, who launched a fintech newsletter, gave readers a first look at the company that wants to combine construction with fintech.

Here’s why it’s important: Outdated industries catching the old bug in fintech is anything but a new phenomenon, but it’s always a signal when someone with a successful track record takes over. The question is, can Lin bring his understanding of consumer fintech habits to an industry with complexities no company has yet managed to overcome?

Honorable Mentions:

The great realizations within the framework of the Great Reconciliation

In Equity this week, Alex and I talked about the effects of the Great Resignation, with a specific focus on the employee. We discussed what startups are facing today in terms of the job market, how it has changed, and how they could compete with Big Tech’s big dollars. Ultimately, will any company be able to beat Meta on PC? Probably not.

Here’s why it’s important: It appears that the forces driving more venture capital into early-stage companies are not too far from the causes of labor shortages. Everyone is looking for a return on either their labor or their capital. And that means a tight hiring market and picky workers.

Take advantage of portable benefits:

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

During the week

We can go out in person! Soon! Techcrunch 2022’s early stage is April 14th, aka just around the corner, and it’s in San Francisco. Join us for a one-day founders meeting featuring GV’s Terry Burns, Greylock’s Glenn Evans and Felicity’s Aidan Sencutt. The TC team has been trying to get back in person, so don’t be surprised if the panels are a little spicier than usual.

Here’s the full agenda and get your tickets to the performance here.

Also, my dear colleague and first best friend at work, Chris Gates, is moving on to other opportunities. My eyes were puffy all week because there’s nothing quite like a co-host/producer relationship. Thanks for editing the ums and likes and making me feel like I have something important to say. For those who want to follow Chris’s next step, follow him on Twitter and stay tuned for next week’s episode where we’ll walk through his journey (and celebrate a huge equity milestone).

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Until next time,

n