Down Round

Instant grocery (also known as instant commerce, 10-minute grocery, ultrafast delivery and a million other names) was one of the hottest categories globally at the tail end of the last investment craze. It seemed every major city had 3-5 companies trying to be the one to deliver you a bag of oranges at superhuman speed.

Now it doesn’t look so hot. In Australia, only Milkrun is left, with Voly and Send having collapsed already. And it’s looking shaky for Milkrun too.

What happened? Was instant grocery doomed from the start? How can they fix it? And where can a guy get toothpaste in five friggen minutes in this town??

Links

* Milkrun, the last local grocery delivery standing, is still trying to find fresh capital after raising $75 million - Startup Daily

* Instant grocery delivery app Send collapses - Sydney Morning Herald

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The creator economy was one of the most hyped sectors at the tail end of the last boom, promising that anyone with an iPhone and a $15 ring light could become a phenomenally wealthy celebrity if they just believed in themselves. It even convinced two crazy-ass white boys from Sydney they could become successful Substack podcasters.

Now the dust has settled, was the hype justified? We’re talking everything from YouTubers and Instagram influencers to link-in-bio startups and whatever the hell Mr Beast does on this week’s episode.

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The tech industry has had a long-time obsession with revolutionising food and the way we eat. From Soylent, the nutrient slurry intended for lifehacking programmers to optimise their sad lives, to the current obsession with plant-based and cell cultured meat, there are always venture-backed startups trying to disrupt the crap we stuff into our chompholes.

We dive in.

Links

* Fake Meat Was Supposed to Save the World. It Became Just Another Fad” - Bloomberg

* The original Soylent blog

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Since the last time we did an episode about AI, there’s been enough movement that we are being dragged back in. Join us… A few updates we dive into:

– Microsoft is deepening its investment in OpenAI, and integrating it into its cloud computing offering and software like Office.

– Google has called a “code red” and plans to roll out more customer-facing AI stuff this year and next.

– ChatGPT is turning into a paid product.

– Artists are becoming angrier and angrier about AI image generation, and the culture war is getting more intense.

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It’s Down Round’s 50th episode. We’re celebrating this momentous occasion by discussing a real upper of a topic: the avalanche of layoffs which have hit the tech industry over the past several months.

So what’s going on? Is the world economy about to collapse? Or are these hugely profitable big tech companies working themselves into a tizzy?

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Fans of tech scams will enjoy the first big one of the year. Frank, the student loan startup acquired by U.S. bank JP Morgan, turned out to be less of a business and more of a fraudulent Excel spreadsheet. We discuss how it fits in among the greats.

Links

* JP Morgan Says Startup Founder Used Millions Of Fake Customers To Dupe It Into An Acquisition – Forbes

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One of the buzziest sectors over the past half a decade is micromobility: e-scooters, e-bikes and the various rental apps which shell them out. Is it actually a good business? Or are they doomed to sink to the bottom of our various urban rivers?

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Unfortunately much like stocks, crypto, rare sneakers, NFTs, classic Nintendo games and vibes, Pokemon cards have crashed in value.

This week, the collectable boom and bust cycle.

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On today’s ep we’re joined by Mike Isaac, New York Times tech correspondent and author of Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber.

He’s writing a book about Facebook, and we grill him relentlessly for an hour about Zuckerberg, the metaverse, and how things are feeling in Silicon Valley.

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Today’s episode is all about payments and fintechs. From neobanks to buy now pay later, how are they all weathering the marginal increase in interest rates? Not well, it turns out!

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