Technology

Amazon is going to be working with a new research initiative backed in part by the Gates Foundation that will distribute at-home coronavirus assessment kits, and then deliver the collected samples to FDA-approved test facilities. Amazon Care, the health arm formed by Amazon initially for internal employee care, will be handling the delivery of the kits, as well as transportation of collected samples to the test labs, as first reported by CNBC.

While the FDA updated its guidance just a few days ago to specifically exclude at-home testing from the Emergency Use Authorization that is in place to enable broadened private lab testing of potential COVID-19 cases, the arrangement with the Seattle Coronavirus Assessment Network (SCAN) and Amazon Care bypasses use of the traditional mail or package delivery network. The Amazon Care drivers who are doing the test kit drop-offs and deliveries are specifically trained in proper handling of sensitive medical materials, and the SCAN project is for a limited research endeavor undertaken in order to help &understand how coronavirus is spreading in the Greater Seattle area.&

Availability of kits will be limited, but will include the kind of swab testing that is being conducted at drive-through testing facilities in the U.S. Should a sample test positive for COVID-19, the person who provided the sample to SCAN will be contacted by a healthcare worker for next steps, including advice on how to seek treatment and prevent transmission.

SCAN is the result of a partnership by Seattle - King CountyPublic Health department, as well as a team of hospitals and health organizations that created the Seattle Flu Study, a similar project meant to study the spread of the traditional seasonal flu within the community. The research and data modeling work done for that study have been adapted to the study of COVID-19, and the flu study has been put on hold while researchers focus on the pandemic instead.

San Francisco-based Instacart today announced it will bring on 300,000 shoppers for its grocery delivery platform over the next three months. The move is meant to manage an uptick in demand due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The platform lets users shop from home from well-known grocery stores like Costco, Safeway, Kroger and more. Once an order is submitted, a designated grocery shopper will pick up the items and deliver it.

Once relying on the lazy shoppers among us, Instacart is now seeing an uptick in volume of orders as delivery becomes a safer option amid the novel coronavirus disease. All of a sudden, social distancing means fewer trips to the grocery stores, which means more reliance on delivery platforms like Instacart.

In a release, Instacart noted that it operates in more than 5,500 cities and will bring on shoppers from across the country. In California, Instacart will bring on 54,000 new shoppers. In New York, the company will bring on 27,000 new shoppers. Other states like Illinois, Ohio, Georgia and New Jersey will also get thousands of new shoppers.

The new shoppers will be offered sick pay, and it will distribute cleaning supplies and hand sanitizer to them, as well.

Grocery stores, for now, remain open across the country, even in states under lockdown. Grocers are deemed an essential business, and Instacart is helping goods get into the hands of people who can&t take the chance to leave their home.

Update: Instacart reached out to clarify that it is hiring 300,000 full-service workers, not full-time workers. The article has been updated to reflect that change.

SouSmile is a direct to consumer dental company based in São Paulo. SouSmile has raised $10 million in Series A funding from Global Founders Capital, Kaszek Ventures and Canary, bringing the companytotal funding to $11.4 million. The two-year-old startup sells an invisible aligner and whitening gels through five retail stores in shopping malls across São Paulo and Rio.

SouSmile is a new option for Brazilians hoping to get started on orthodontic work. The process consists of an evaluation by a licensed dentist that includes a panoramic X-ray, 3D scan and a clinical exam. Then, the company approves customers for treatment. SouSmilefollow-up process includes bimonthly appointments, and costs approximately $1,000, which co-founder Michael Ruah says is 60% cheaper than comparable treatments, and can be paid in installments. Treatment is fast, taking between three to nine months.

SouSmile has a six-person co-founding team. The 100-person startup is made up of 50% licensed dentists.

Ruah anticipates that the coronavirus pandemic will have a negative short-term revenue impact for the company, as they anticipate less foot traffic in retail stores over the coming weeks, possibly months. He hopes that because the business is still young, macro indicators won&t have a huge impact on the bottom line in the medium-to-long term. Ruah says that the most important thing is that SouSmile employees and customers are safe and healthy at this point.

Why is Brazil a good market for a D2C dental startup?

With 2 million orthodontic cases per year, highly populous Brazil is one of the largest dental markets globally, yet the penetration of invisible aligners is less than 2% due to prohibitive prices. Ruah compares this to the 40% penetration in the U.S. for adults, citing Invisalignnumbers. Therestill a dent to be made, as SouSmile says it saw more than 10,000 bookings last year.

Ruah also cites a cultural reason as to why Brazil is a smart market for a product like this: Brazilians care a lot about both beauty and their oral health. &Brazilians brush their teeth three times a day. They&ll go out for lunch, they&ll come back to the office and brush their teeth. Everybody has their toothbrush and toothpaste with them all the time,& he explains.

SouSmileinvisible aligner costs around $1,200. Treatment lasts between 3-9 months.

Branding: Cosmetic versus health

SmileDirectClub raised nearly $440 million at a $3.2 billion valuation before going public in 2019. The teeth-straightening company built its brand by leveraging the celebrity beauty angle with Instagram influencer campaigns that marketed the visual results of its product. While SouSmile hopes to see big numbers like its U.S.-based predecessor, it wants to take more of a healthcare-first approach to its branding, rather than cosmetic.

SouSmile is up against some big challenges. Physical retail costs are expensive. Manufacturing is hard, and the company doesn&t appear to be particularly tech-enabled, relying mainly on physical retail presence for customer acquisition.

SouSmile isn&t the only Latin American startup working on an anti-braces dental solution, either. Moons, a Mexican invisible aligner startup that just launched out of Y Combinator, may have a head start. Moons delivers a similar product as SouSmile for around the same cost, and is also using 3D printing to manufacture its aligners. Moons is targeting the Latin America market with $5 million in funding and the Y Combinator stamp of approval. Moons has already opened 18 locations across Mexico and Colombia.

But Brazilian tech can operate like a separate ecosystem apart from adjacent Spanish-speaking Latin America due to country regulations, language barriers and shipping complications. Consumer startups that can deliver products that improve the daily lives of Brazilmassive middle class are the ones that succeed, and SouSmile now has the capital to shoot its shot.

Earlier this month, the FCC issued a new measure aimed at easing some of the burdens on consumers as COVID-19 continues to have an increasingly profound impact on nearly every aspect of life.

Most or all major internet and wireless providers in the U.S. signed up for the pledge, agreeing to take actions like waiving late fees and not terminating service. Now specific plans are starting to emerge from carriers, aimed at helping cash-strapped consumers until this pandemic blows over.

T-Mobile this morning announced the launch of a $15/month Metro plan — at half the cost of its current lowest-price plan. The pricing will be in place for the next 60 days, including unlimited talk and 2GB of data. The company is also tossing in a free eight-inch tablet (with rebate, plus fine print) and will be adjusting other data plans for the next two months.

At the same time, Verizon (TCparent company) announced that it will be adding 15GB of 4G data to current consumer and small business plans, in an effort to help customers use their handsets as mobile hotspots as needed. The company will also be taking $20 off select FiOS plans and waving router rental fees for 60 days.

Like the other carriers, AT-T noted in a message to TechCrunch that it will not terminate service over inability to pay. It will also be waiving late fees, along with domestic overcharges for data, voice and text, retroactive to March 13.

Sprint, meanwhile, will provide for 60 days unlimited data to customers with metered plans, starting March 18, along with 20GB of free mobile hotspot data.

If you heard the collective grieving shriek of a thousand Instagram influencers, YouTubers and their followers, itbecause VidCon has been canceled.

Itthe latest mega-event to fall prey to the social distancing measures put in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

In a statement, the conference organizers said:

VidCon is dedicated to delivering premium entertainment experiences across the globe. Our first priority is the safety and health of our attendees, sponsors, speakers, creators, and staff. Due to the continued uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 and the precautions being taken by authorities worldwide to manage this pandemic, we have come to the difficult decision to cancel the 11th annual VidCon in Anaheim this June. All tickets and pre-ordered merch that have been purchased for the June 17 & 20, 2020 event will be refunded in full by April 15, 2020. This will include all fees for previously canceled tickets.

VidCon is one of the most important events for the massive entertainment industry thatgrown up around the streaming platforms. Those platforms — specifically YouTube and Instagram — raked in a bit over $35 billion in spending in 2019, or roughly half of the ad haul that television advertising pulled in for the same year.

More than just a chance for entertainers to promote themselves and their products, the event is a critical window into where social media is heading.

In its own way, the event is as important to the streaming community as upfronts are to traditional media, or newfronts are to online media.

The (entirely appropriate) response to the COVID-19 outbreak is one thatbeen echoed in industries as disparate as entertainment, technology and auto manufacturing. Most of the big auto shows have been canceled this year, along with the major developer events from Alphabet subsidiary Google and Facebook. Other events are going remote or turning to virtual only — like Applebig developer and product event later this year.