Technology

Notion hits $2 billion valuation in new raise

Notion, a startup that operates a workplace productivity platform, has raised $50 million from Index Ventures and other investors at a $2 billion valuation, the company told The New York Times.

A Notion spokesperson confirmed the raise and valuation to TechCrunch.

As startups across the board begin looking at layoffs or raising at less than favorable terms, Notion had been in the unusual position of turning away interested investors for years. With this raise, the firm has amassed $67 million in total funding, the company says. Their last raise of $10M valued them at $800 million.

The companyhighly customizable note-taking app allows enterprise customers to create linked networks of databases and documents.

In November, COO Akshay Kothari told TechCrunch that the company was hoping not to raise outside funding again, &So far one of the things we&ve found is that we haven&t really been constrained by money. We&ve had opportunities to raise a lot more, but we&ve never felt like if we had more money we could grow faster.&

Why Notion is staying small as its valuation gets bigger

Whatchanged? Just the global economy. The firm told the Times that this new raise should put them in a more stable position and leave them with enough funding for &at least& 10 years. That said, the startupteam has expanded rapidly in recent months, growing 40% since November. Their user numbers appear to also be growing rapidly, with Kothari telling the Times that total users have &nearly quadrupled& from one million, a figure the company released in early 2019.

Notion offers free and paid accounts, ranging from $5 to $25 billed monthly.

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Olive, a startup developing an automation tool for healthcare administration, raises $51 million

Time is money, as the old adage goes, and this is doubly true in healthcare systems operating with thin margins now made even thinner thanks to the loss of revenue caused by a freeze on elective procedures.

Stepping in with a technology that automates much of the time-consuming back-end processes hospitals and healthcare providers need to keep up with is Olive, a startup out of Columbus, Ohio.

The company, which counts among its customers more than 500 hospitals representing some of the largest healthcare providers in the U.S., has raised a new round of $51 million as it sees significant growth for its business.

The round, raised from investors including Drive Capital, Oak HC/FT and Ascension Ventures, was led by General Catalyst, which recently closed on $2.3 billion in new capital to invest in early-stage companies.

As a result of the investment, Ron Paulus, the former president and chief executive of Mission Health, will join the board of directors, the company said in a statement.

Olive software toolkit automates administrative tasks like revenue cycle, supply chain management, clinical administration and human resources, the company said in a statement. And demand for the companytechnology is surging.

According to data provided by the company, roughly half of hospital administrators intend to invest in robotic process automation by 2021.

&Therea growing, multi-billion dollar problem: healthcare doesn&t have the internet. Instead, healthcare uses humans as routers, forcing workers to toggle between disparate systems — they copy, they paste, they manipulate data & they become robots. They click and type and extract and import, all day long — and itone of the leading reasons that one out of every three dollars spent in the industry today is spent on administrative costs,& said Olive chief executive Sean Lane in a September statement.

Olive doesn&t just automate processes, but makes those processes better for hospitals by identifying problem areas that could lead to lost revenues for hospitals. The software has access to pre-existing health claim status data, which allows it to identify where mistakes in previous claims were made. By using accurate coding, hospitals can add additional revenue.

&As a recent health system CEO, I appreciate the duress our hospitals are under as they focus on delivering the best patient care possible under challenging circumstances all while needing to keep the lights on,& said Dr. Ronald A. Paulus. &Olivereliable automation of essential back-office processes saves time, reduces errors and allows staff to focus on higher-order work. I am excited to be working closely with Olivemanagement team to maximize the outsized positive impact we can have in healthcare on both the administrative and clinical fronts.&

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A recent rebound in domestic equity prices faded further into the distance today, as American stocks fell for a second consecutive day following modest Tuesday declines.

After rising from new 52-week lows, all domestic indices are down after the American president warned of difficult weeks ahead as the country reels from the economic and social impacts of COVID-19. The daytrading left stocks down heading into Thursday, when a new unemployment claim number is expected.

Some are anticipating a worse number than last week3.3 million claims, a result that was historic in size. If tomorrowreport is as bad as some expect, it would underscore the scale of economic damage the country endures as it seeks to stem the spread of COVID-19 after an initially slow national response that has since splintered into a patchwork of state-led efforts. Many Americans are staying home, a condition that could persist for weeks or months, exacerbating economic damage.

Herethe dayresults:

  • Dow Jones Industrial Average: -973.65, -4.44%
  • S-P 500: -114.09, -4.41%
  • Nasdaq Composite: -339.52, -4.41%

Shares of SaaS and cloud companies, as tracked by the BVP Nasdaq Emerging Cloud Index, fell 4.83% today. As with the broader technology industry, SaaS firms saw their shares fall sharply before recovering some; and, like their industry peers, they are now trending down yet again.

Pressure on automakers

The Big Three Detroit automakers — GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles — also saw stocks slide after reporting first-quarter sales declines. GM reported a 7.1% drop in sales in the first three months of the quarter ended March 31 compared to the same year-ago period. FCA reported a 10.4% decline in sales. Ford is expected to report its quarterly sales numbers on Thursday. Tesla, which saw its shares fall 8.1% to $481.56, is expected to report deliveries this week.

GM shares fell today 7.31% to $19.26, while FCA saw its price drop 5.15% to $6.82.

GM and FCA were hardly the only automakers to see a drop in sales caused by falling demand for cars, trucks and SUVs. Hyundai, Nissan and Porsche also reported declines.

With the close of a turbulent Q1 behind us, we are not yet free of the first three months of 2020. Earnings season looms, and with it an endless retrace of the outbreak of the pandemic domestically, as sketched by the numbers of domestically listed companies. For some firms, Q1 numbers will prove a bonanza. For most, however, they will likely show the opposite. So get ready for another quarter of confusion, itgoing to be a long three months.

Stocks fall sharply as US government warns of hard weeks ahead

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Audible has the first Harry Potter audiobook (as read by Stephen Fry!) streaming for free right now

If you&ve ever tried to buy the Harry Potter audiobooks, you probably noticed something kind of tricky: there are two very different versions. The version most widely available in the U.S. is narrated by Jim Dale. The U.K. version is read by Stephen Fry.

Which is better? I won&t get into that — thatsomething the internet has been arguing about for a decade+ now. I will say, however, that getting the Stephen Fry versions in the U.S. (legally) is usually a pretty big pain in the butt. Different countries, different distribution rights, different licensing — yada yada yada.

It got a bit easier today, albeit for just the first book: Audible has put the Stephen Fry version of &Harry Potter and the PhilosopherStone& up online, for free, until further notice.

Audible says itdoing this as part of J.K. Rowling#HarryPotterAtHome program, in which the author is &relaxing the usual copyright permissions& to make the story available to more children who are likely stuck at home during the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. The same program is allowing teachers to post videos of themselves reading the series aloud to their students (as long as iton a &closed educational platform&… so not like, YouTube) without worrying about getting into a copyright battle.

A few small catches:

  • If you&re in North America and get hooked on Frytake on the narration, finding/importing the Fry version of the other books is going to be up to you. Even if you sign up for an Audible account, the rest of the series on Audible is read by Jim Dale. To be clear, Daleversion is verygood! Just know that itdifferent.
  • It&ll work across laptops, phones, tablets, etc. with the caveat that itstreaming only, so plan on listening somewhere with an internet connection.

You can find the Harry Potter stream — plus a bunch of other family-friendly audiobooks as part of Audiblefree Stories program — right here.

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Anthony Levandowski, the star self-driving automobile designer that was at the facility of a trade keys suit, has submitted an activity to compel Uber right into mediation in the hopes that his previous staff member will certainly have to take on the expense of at the very least part of the $179 million judgment versus him. The motion to compel mediation filed this week is component of Levandowski&& s insolvency procedures. It & s the most up to date phase in a long and also winding legal legend that has entangled Uber and also Waymo, the former Google self-driving job that is currently a service under Alphabet. The motion represents the very first legal step to compel Uber to wait an indemnity arrangement with Levandowski. Uber signed an indemnity agreement in 2016 when it acquired Levandowski&& s self-driving truck start-up Otto. Under the contract, Uber stated it would certainly indemnify-- or compensate-- Levandowski versus claims brought by his former company, Google. In Uber&& s check out the risks are at least$ 64 million, according to the ride-hailing business&& s yearly record filed with the U.S. Securities as well as Exchange Payment. Although Levandowski, who was ordered in March 2020 to pay Google $179 million, is clearly aiming for more. && For much of the previous 3 years, Anthony yielded control of his individual defense to Uber due to the fact that Uber firmly insisted on controlling his defense as part of its task to indemnify him. After that, when Uber didn&& t like the result, it all of a sudden changed its mind and also claimed it would not compensate him. What Uber did is incorrect, and also Anthony needs to protect his legal rights as an outcome,& & Levandowksi & s lawyer Neel Chatterjee of Goodwin Procter stated in an emailed declaration to TechCrunch. The backstory Levandowski was an engineer and one of the charter member in 2009 of the Google self-driving task, which was internally called Project Driver. The Google self-driving task later on drew out to come to be Waymo, a service under Alphabet. Levandowski was paid about $127 million by Google for his deal with Task Licensed operator, according to the court paper submitted today. Levandowski left Google in January 2016 and also started Otto, a self-driving trucking company, with 3 various other Google professionals: Lior Ron, Claire Delaunay and also Don Burnette. Uber obtained Otto less than 8 months later. Prior to the purchase closed, Uber carried out due diligence, including working with outdoors forensic examination company Stroz Friedberg to evaluate the electronic tools of Levandowski as well as other Otto workers, according to the current court declaring. The investigation discovered that Levandowski carried his tools data coming from Google, in addition to indications that evidence may have been damaged. Uber consented to a wide indemnification arrangement despite the forensic proof, which would safeguard Levandowski versus cases brought by Google connecting to his previous employment. Levandowski was worried that Google would attempt to return any kind of or all of the $127 million in compensation he had obtained. That forecast didn&& t take long to find true. Two months after the procurement, Google made 2 arbitration demands against Levandowski as well as Ron. Uber wasn&& t a celebration to either settlement. Nonetheless, it was on the hook, under the indemnification contract, to safeguard Levandowski. Uber accepted those commitments as well as protected Levandowski. While the mediations played out, Waymo separately submitted a claim versus Uber in February 2017 for profession secret burglary. Waymo declared in the fit, which went to trial and also finished in a settlement, that Levandowski stole trade tricks, which were after that made use of by Uber. Under the settlement, Uber consented to not integrate Waymo&& s secret information right into their software and hardware. Uber likewise concurred to pay an economic negotiation that included 0.34% of Uber equity, per its Collection G-1 rounded $72 billion appraisal. That computed at the time to around $244.8 million in Uber equity. On the other hand, the arbitration panel provided an interim award in March 2019 against each of Google&& s previous employees, consisting of a$ 127 million judgment against Levandowski. The judgment additionally included an additional $1 million that Levandowski as well as Ron were jointly liable for. Google sent a demand for passion, lawyer costs as well as other costs. A final honor was issued in December. Ron worked out with Google in February for$ 9.7 million. Nonetheless, Levandowski, challenged the judgment. The San Francisco Region Superior Court refuted his&request in March, approving Google & s application to hold Levandowski to the adjudication arrangement under which he was liable. As the legal wrangling in between Google as well as Levandowski as well as Uber played out, the designer encountered criminal costs. In August 2019, he was prosecuted by a government grand jury on 33 matters of burglary and also attempted theft of trade secrets while operating at Google. Last month, Levandowski reached a plea contract with the UNITED STATE Area Attorney as well as pleaded guilty to one matter of swiping trade secrets. What&& rsquo ; s next Levandowski & s attorneys say that when the final judgment was entered versus him, Uber reneged on its indemnification contract. Levandowski claimed he was compelled to file for Chapter 11 personal bankruptcy since Uber has rejected to pay. && While Uber and Levandowski are celebrations to an indemnification contract, whether Uber is ultimately in charge of such indemnification undergoes a disagreement between the Company and also Levandowski,& & Uber said, making use of similar language discovered in its yearly report filed with the SEC. Even if Levandowski&& s legal group has the ability to encourage a court to compel Uber right into mediation, that doesn & t mean the outcome will certainly declare. Settlement could take months to play out. In the end, Levandowski can still shed. However the declaring permits Levandowski to — talk out-- albeit using legalese-- and also share details of his employment at Google and also Uber. Amongst those are information about what Uber understood (and when) regarding Levandowski&& s activities in recruiting Google workers in addition to info he had downloaded and install onto his laptop computer and discovered during the forensic examination. The initial fractures in between Uber as well as Levandowski appeared in April 2018, based on a timeline in the court paper. It was then that Uber told Levandowski it intended to seek compensation for expenses used to safeguard him in the adjudication, according to insurance claims set out in the motion. Uber informed Levandowski as one reason it was seeking reimbursement is since Levandowski && rejected to indicate at his deposition via an unjustifiably broad invocation of the Fifth Modification.& & Levandowski had used the Fifth Amendment in the deposition during the arbitration with Google. Uber never asked for Levandowski waive his Fifth Change civil liberties and also indicate throughout the adjudication, according to the court file. Levandowski stated that he quickly signaled Google as well as the adjudication panel that he was ready to testify and also provided to make himself readily available for deposition prior to the settlement hearing. Levandowski-Uber Movement to Force by TechCrunch on Scribd Anthony Levandowski, the star self-driving auto designer who went to the facility of a trade secrets suit, has actually submitted a movement to urge Uber right into arbitration in the hopes that his previous employee will have to take on the price of at least part of the $179 million judgment against him. The activity to compel arbitration submitted this week is component of Levandowski&& s insolvency proceedings. It & s the latest chapter in a lengthy and winding legal legend that has entangled Uber as well as Waymo, the previous Google self-driving task that is now an organisation under Alphabet. The motion stands for the very first lawful step to compel Uber to wait an indemnity arrangement with Levandowski. Uber signed an indemnity contract in 2016 when it got Levandowski&& s self-driving truck startup Otto. Under the contract, Uber stated it would certainly indemnify-- or make up —-- Levandowski versus claims brought by his former company, Google. In Uber&& s see the risks go to least $64 million, according to the ride-hailing business&& s annual record submitted with the UNITED STATE Securities and also Exchange Compensation. Although Levandowski, who was ordered in March 2020 to pay Google $179 million, is clearly striving even more. && For much of the past 3 years, Anthony ceded control of his individual protection to Uber because Uber firmly insisted on managing his defense as component of its responsibility to compensate him. After that, when Uber didn&& t like the end result, it suddenly changed its mind and also stated it would not compensate him. What Uber did is incorrect, and Anthony needs to secure his rights as an outcome,& & Levandowksi & s attorney Neel Chatterjee of Goodwin Procter stated in an emailed statement to TechCrunch. The backstory Levandowski was an engineer as well as among the charter member in 2009 of the Google self-driving job, which was inside called Project Licensed operator. The Google self-driving task later on drew out to end up being Waymo, a company under Alphabet. Levandowski was paid around $127 million by Google for his deal with Project Driver, according to the court paper submitted today. Levandowski left Google in January 2016 and began Otto, a self-driving trucking business, with three other Google experts: Lior Ron, Claire Delaunay and Don Burnette. Uber obtained Otto less than 8 months later on. Before the purchase shut, Uber performed due persistance, including working with outside forensic examination company Stroz Friedberg to examine the digital tools of Levandowski as well as various other Otto staff members, according to the recent court filing. The investigation discovered that Levandowski had on his gadgets files belonging to Google, in addition to indicators that evidence might have been ruined. Uber consented to a broad indemnification arrangement in spite of the forensic proof, which would shield Levandowski versus cases brought by Google connecting to his previous work. Levandowski was worried that Google would try to get back any or every one of the $127 million in settlement he had received. That projection didn&& t take long to come real. 2 months after the purchase, Google made 2 settlement needs versus Levandowski and also Ron. Uber wasn&& t a party to either arbitration. Nevertheless, it got on the hook, under the indemnification agreement, to protect Levandowski. Uber accepted those responsibilities and safeguarded Levandowski. While the mediations played out, Waymo individually filed a suit against Uber in February 2017 for profession secret burglary. Waymo affirmed in the suit, which mosted likely to test as well as ended in a negotiation, that Levandowski swiped profession keys, which were then utilized by Uber. Under the settlement, Uber accepted not integrate Waymo&& s secret information right into their software and hardware. Uber also agreed to pay an economic negotiation that included 0.34% of Uber equity, per its Collection G-1 round $72 billion assessment. That computed at the time to around $244.8 million in Uber equity. Meanwhile, the settlement panel released an interim honor in March 2019 versus each of Google&& s former workers, consisting of a $127 million judgment versus Levandowski. The judgment also included an additional $1 million that Levandowski as well as Ron were jointly liable for. Google submitted an ask for interest, lawyer costs as well as various other costs. A final honor was provided in December. Ron worked out with Google in February for $9.7 million. Nonetheless, Levandowski, disputed the judgment. The San Francisco County Superior Court denied his request in March, giving Google&& s request to hold Levandowski to the settlement contract under which he was accountable. As the legal wrangling between Google and also Levandowski and Uber played out, the designer encountered criminal charges. In August 2019, he was arraigned by a federal grand court on 33 matters of theft as well as attempted burglary of profession tricks while operating at Google. Last month, Levandowski reached a plea arrangement with the U.S. Area Attorney and begged guilty to one count of stealing profession tricks. What&& rsquo ; s next Levandowski & s attorneys say that when the last judgment was gotten in versus him, Uber reneged on its indemnification agreement. Levandowski claimed he was forced to declare Phase 11 personal bankruptcy since Uber has actually declined to pay. && While Uber and also Levandowski are events to an indemnification agreement, whether Uber is inevitably in charge of such indemnification goes through a conflict between the Company as well as Levandowski,& & Uber said, utilizing comparable language found in its yearly report submitted with the SEC. Even if Levandowski&& s lawful team is able to persuade a judge to oblige Uber right into settlement, that doesn & t suggest the outcome will certainly declare. Mediation might take months to play out. In the long run, Levandowski can still shed. Yet the declaring enables Levandowski to speak up —-- albeit making use of legalese —-- and share details of his employment at Google and also Uber. Amongst those are details regarding what Uber understood (and when) concerning Levandowski&& s tasks in hiring Google workers along with information he had actually downloaded onto his laptop and also discovered during the forensic investigation. The very first splits in between Uber and Levandowski appeared in April 2018, based upon a timeline in the court file. It was then that Uber told Levandowski it planned to look for repayment for expenditures made use of to safeguard him in the arbitration, according to claims outlined in the activity. Uber informed Levandowski as one reason it was looking for compensation is because Levandowski && declined to affirm at his deposition with an unjustifiably broad conjuration of the Fifth Modification.& & Levandowski had utilized the Fifth Modification in the deposition during the mediation with Google. Uber never ever requested Levandowski waive his 5th Amendment civil liberties as well as affirm during the mediation, according to the court record. Levandowski said that he quickly signaled Google and also the settlement panel that he agreed to testify and also supplied to make himself offered for deposition before the mediation hearing. Levandowski-Uber Motion to Compel by TechCrunch on Scribd
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Neighborhood social networking app Nextdoor is rolling out a few changes focused on supporting local businesses. The COVID-19 outbreak has forced many businesses to close their doors, sometimes for good, while others are struggling to stay afloat. As a result, many Nextdoor users have been posting on the app asking how they can help support their favorite businesses during this time. These new updates will allow them to do just that — by buying gift cards from local businesses, donating to fundraisers or shopping from a business that remains open by way of pickup or delivery.

Buying gift cards from local merchants has quickly emerged as an easy way for customers to help their favorite restaurants and other businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.

New sites, like HelpMainStreet.com and SaveOurFaves.org, have launched in recent days to make this process more organized. OpenTablegift card marketplace waived its fees. Meanwhile, other efforts had their hearts in the right place but flubbed the execution — as with Yelpdisastrous implementation of a GoFundMe integration that didn&t allow participants to easily opt-out.

On Nextdoor, however, the app is simply being updated to allow the local businesses themselves to direct users to whatever websites or fundraisers they already have running.

Nextdoor updates its app to allow businesses to link to fundraisers, gift cards and more

For example, in the Business Profile section, the local merchant can now add a gift card website address to their profile. When Nextdoor users click the link, they&ll be directed to the page the business has set up for selling gift cards.

Even if the business doesn&t offer online purchases, it could simply add a page to its existing website that instructs users how to buy the gift card from them — perhaps by calling the business on the phone or reaching out on social media.

In addition, if the business is running a GoFundMe campaign, they&ll now be able to include that link in the &Story& section of their Nextdoor Business Page for Nextdoor users to see.

Their Nextdoor Business Page can also now be customized with their available take-out and delivery options, which is particularly useful for dine-in restaurants that just started offering to-go meals or delivery for the first time, but haven&t partnered with a larger delivery service like DoorDash, Grubhub or Uber Eats.

In addition, businesses that have been voted as a &Nextdoor Neighborhood Favorite& by the community will also now be able to post to the main Nextdoor news feed. Here, they can share updates to their hours, services offered or operations, which will be seen by a larger number of users.

Nextdoor has also added a Coronavirus Resource Center to help local business owners get updated news, information and actionable business advice in one spot.

The changes come only a day after Facebook launched Community Help for COVID-19, which allows local community members — including Facebook Pages used by businesses — to both offer aid and request assistance. But posts about supporting your favorite restaurant could easily get lost amid more critical calls for medical supplies needed by area hospitals or food banks in need of volunteers.

On Nextdoor, local businesses may instead find a smaller, but more targeted audience, where their real-life neighbors and customers are already engaging with one another.

This isn&t the first COVID-19-related update Nextdoor has rolled out. The company previously updated its app to include a Help Map for neighbors offering to help one another or in need of help themselves.

Nextdoor updates its app to allow businesses to link to fundraisers, gift cards and more

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