Engadget today examined the question “Can Amazon Go help the unbanked go digital?” Writer Andrew Tarantola argues passionately that paper currency is on the way out: As our economy embraces digital transactions while shunning cash, it’s the poor that will be most harmed. Cash is not in retreat today. There is twice as much U.S. currency […]
Month: January 2018
SoftBank’s $300M dog-walking bet
SoftBank put $300 million into dog-walking services provider Wag! today. It barks like the go-go 90s investing SoftBank when people frequently asked, “Is Masayoshi Son nuts?” The Wag deal isn’t as ludicrous as it looks, though the valuation drove venture giants Kleiner Perkins and NEA away in recent weeks, according to TechCrunch. Why might this […]
It will be surprising to many, but Uber is poised to become a mature and responsible company. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi today signed on to a letter from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and others asking Congress to create a portable benefits system for on-demand workers. The Hill reports that Khosrowshahi, investor Nick Hanauer, and […]
Lots of short notable goodness for your on-demand economy appetite today. News and thoughts follow. ADP gets serious about on-demand. ADP, the Paterson, N.J. payment processing and payroll provider, acquired WorkMarket, a freelance management platform. The startup’s Work OS supports on-demand and full-time employee relationships that is integrated with Salesforce, among others. This marks the […]
GoDaddy has acquired Main Street Hub, a social marketing tools and services company, for $125 million in cash with $50 million in performance incentives, according to TechCrunch. This is interesting for several reasons: SMB marketing must evolve to support on-demand and in-home engagement. SMBs generally favor Do-It-With-Me and Do-It-For-Me (DIFM) models over Do-It-Yourself marketing services. […]
Banks offer many more services, along with charging a lot more fees, than a generation ago. As virtual services grow, trust has fallen. Financier Worldwide looks at personalization, GDPR (learn it, know it), and the impact of social media. However, the customer relationship all comes down to trust.
Lexology analyzes an important employment and regulatory decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union after the Spanish Asociación Profesional Élite Taxi, a driver’s union, challenged Uber’s operating model in Barcelona. The court, which is the highest in the E.U., sided with drivers.
Parks Associates, an IoT and smart home research firm, released a report suggesting that 13 percent of U.S. broadband households (there were 106 million such homes as of 2016) have installed smart thermostats as of 2017. That’s up from 11 percent in 2016, an increase of approximately 2.1 million homes last year. What does this mean for on-demand services that can tap into smart thermostats (with consumers’ permission)? Let’s brainstorm.
Google invests in Go-Jek
Google is reportedly part of a new $1.19 billion investment round at Indonesian ride hailing service Go-Jek. According to South Africa’s Business Report, Google could put as much as $98 million into the company, which also has investments from Tencent. The deal opens the way for adoption of Google’s Waymo autonomous car technology by Go-Jek, […]
SoftBank completed its $9.3 billion transaction with Uber, making it the largest shareholder in the company and returning handsome profits to early investors, as well as making Travis Kalanick a billionaire. The cost: Uber must turn its focus to the United States, Europe, Latin American countries, and Australia to become profitable. The Financial Times reports […]