Daily Crunch: App Store and Social Media Reviews Show User Backlash Against Snapchat’s New AI Chatbot

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As Twitter continues its absolutely ridiculous march to its own demise, we’re grabbing the popcorn to watch the fire burn. In other news: Happy Monday, folks! — christina and Haha

TechCrunch Top 3

• Well, blue, check it out.: Twitter users with more than 1 million followers got their blue checkmarks back, even if they didn’t pay for Twitter Blue, Ivan reports. It is interesting to note that many of the account holders quickly parted ways with being subscribers. Maybe it also has something to do with Twitter gives a gold checkmark to a fake Disney account. Ivan has more on that.
• No th-AI-nks: That’s what Snapchat users are saying about its “My AI” feature, which released last week. Sarah writes that the social media giant is seeing an increase in one-star reviews, including calling for its removal.
• be close to you: At a time when there is a wave of doubts about cryptocurrencies, Cosmose, a company that uses artificial intelligence analytics to track in-store foot traffic and engage with online shoppers, is betting on digital currency. rita reports that Cosmose, which recently closed an undisclosed funding round to value it at $500 million, is now working with Near’s crypto solution. He even drops Stripe to do it. It’s a bold strategy, Cotton. Let’s see if it pays.

Startups and VCs

Super.com, formerly Snapcommerce, launched its SuperCash cash back card last October so cardholders could build credit, amassing 5 million customers worldwide who have collectively saved more than $150 million to date. , according to CEO Hussein Fazal. Now he has his sights set on helping “ordinary Americans” find deals and savings across multiple categories.including trips and purchases, through its super application, christina reports.

Silicon Valley’s quest to automate everything is relentless, which explains its latest obsession: Auto-GPT. In essence, Auto-GPT uses the versatility of the latest OpenAI AI models to interact with software and online services, allowing it to perform “autonomous” tasks like X and Y. But as we learn with models of large language, this ability seems to be like wide like an ocean but as deep as a puddle, Kyle reports.

Go ahead, another handful for you:

• They just want to stay involved: Frederick reports that Volvo Cars Tech Fund invests at the monitoring startup of the CorrActions controller.
• I’ll call you in a bit: Brian reports a big partnership win for Oura, as Best Buy brings the smart ring to 850 stores in the US
• You build it, you get paid: More construction projects are starting, but payments to contractors and their subcontractors continue to bottleneck the normal course of completing a project. Constrafor raises new capital to do better, christina reports.
• Tough competition: Woodoo is creating decarbonised wood-based materialsreports Roman.
• last impressions matter: In CT+, Haha argues that for his pitch deck, last impressions count almost as much as first impressions.
• Making IP an asset: Also for TC+, Haha took a closer look Aventurine, which helps early-stage founders make money from their IP portfoliosin what the accelerator hopes will be a perpetual fund, fueled by intellectual property licences.

10 years of fintech failure: 3 more ideas that did not live up to initial expectations

Do you remember P2P loans and on-demand insurance? If not, there’s a good reason: Despite the great hype, they’re just two of several fintech innovations that have failed in the past decade.

For his latest TC+ column, fintech consultant Grant Easterbrook examined three more ideas “that initially seemed promising but largely failed to change the financial services industry.”

According to Easterbrook, these failures offer valuable lessons for today’s founders and investors: “Fintech entrepreneurs need to remember the essential tenet that the average consumer doesn’t like to think about money and often wants someone else to take care of it.” he”.

Three more from the TC+ team:

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big tech inc

Merchants have a lot to deal with when it comes to running their businesses, but Shopify wants to take one thing off its plate. Shopify is working with B2B payment provider Melio to add direct bill payments so they can consolidate bills and pay their bills in a more automated way through the Shopify platform. maria anna he writes that this is the “ecommerce platform offering to be a fintech one-stop-shop for merchants.”

Ring, ring… guess who’s calling? It’s PhonePe, and the company is willing to challenges Google’s dominance in India with an app store of his own. The Walmart-backed company offers a “premiere experience for millions of users with high-quality ads and personalized targeting, support for 12 languages, and 24/7 live chat.” manish reports.

And we have five more for you: