Daily Crunch: Amazon acquires Eero

NelsonG · February 12, 2019

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1. Amazon is buying home mesh router startup, Eero

It’s a pretty clear fit for Amazon as it pushes to make Alexa a feature in the connected home. The move also makes sense for five-year-old Eero — which, in spite of being early to the home mesh router game and pulling in some high-profile investors, has struggled.

If you’re an Eero owner wondering how this affects your privacy, read this.

2. LinkedIn debuts LinkedIn Live, a new live video broadcast service

Launching in beta first in the United States, LinkedIn Live will be invite-only. The plan is to start by covering conferences, product announcements, Q&As and other events led by influencers and mentors, office hours from a big tech company, earnings calls and graduation/awards ceremonies.

3. Announcing Extra Crunch

Okay, if you’r reading this on the TechCrunch website (as opposed to your inbox), you probably know about Extra Crunch already, but just in case: It’s an additional layer of content, coverage, product and events-based offerings for our most regular and engaged readers. And you can get 20 percent off an annual subscription if you use the code TCDAILY.

4. Car rental startup Virtuo picks up €20M Series B

Originally founded in France and available in 19 French and two Belgium locations, Virtuo launched in London last summer, and says it plans to bring the service to U.K. cities Manchester, Bristol and Edinburgh later this year.

5. Hands-on with an Alpha build of Google Maps’ Augmented Reality mode

Most of us have probably had this big city experience: You step off public transit, take a peek at Google Maps to figure out which way you’re supposed to go … and then somehow proceed to walk two blocks in the wrong direction. Google Maps’ Augmented Reality mode is designed to end that scenario.

6. Amazon is bringing its delivery Lockers to Coachella

The retailer says it will make its storage lockers available to festival-goers, allowing them to order — in advance or on the same day — to have items like sunscreen, hats and phone chargers delivered to an on-site locker.

7. Mode, a collaborative analytics platform focused on empowering data scientists, just landed $23M in fresh funding

Mode’s CEO says organizations need to better empower data scientists to quickly and effectively answer key questions, like how clients are using their product in unexpected ways, and how companies can take advantage of trends they are seeing in the data.