Daily Crunch - Hyundai acquires 80% stake in Boston Robotics

Hyundai takes a controlling stake in an iconic robotics company, Twitter acquires a screen-sharing startup and we round up some security-themed gift ideas. This is your Daily Crunch for December 11, 2020.

The big story: Hyundai acquires 80% stake in Boston Robotics

Boston Robotics is behind a number of impressive robots, including the dog-like quadruped Spot. Over the past decade, it’s changed ownership several times, with Google acquiring it in 2013, then selling it to Japanese investment giant SoftBank in 2017.

After today’s deal, which values Boston Robotics at $1.1 billion and is subject to regulatory approval, SoftBank will still own a 20% stake .

“Boston Dynamics will benefit substantially from new capital, technology, affiliated customers, and Hyundai Motor Group’s global market reach enhancing commercialization opportunity for its robot products,” Hyundai said in a press release.

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The tech giants

Twitter acquires screen-sharing social app Squad — The entire Squad team is joining Twitter, while the Squad app will be shut down tomorrow.

Europe urged to block Google-Fitbit ahead of major digital policy overhaul — Shoshana Zuboff, the Harvard professor who wrote the defining book on surveillance capitalism, has become the latest voice raised against the $2.1 billion deal.

Twitter app code indicates that live video broadcasting app Periscope may get shut down — If Periscope does get shut down, it would be the end of a five-year run.

Startups, funding and venture capital

Gorillas, the on-demand grocery delivery startup taking Berlin by storm, has raised $44M Series A — Gorillas delivers groceries within an average of 10 minutes.

Sweden’s Tink raises $103M as its open banking platform grows to 3,400 banks and 250M customers — Tink aggregates a number of banks and financial services by way of an API.

Benchmark fills out its, yes, bench, with Miles Grimshaw — From his post as a general partner with New York-based Thrive, Grimshaw sourced deals in Lattice, Mapbox, Benchling and Airtable.

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch

Cloud-gaming platforms were 2020’s most overhyped trend — The future of the technology is bright, but much less sexy.

General Catalyst’s Katherine Boyle and Peter Boyce are looking for ‘obsessive’ founders — We sat down with Boyle and Boyce to discuss what they look for in founders, which sectors they’re most excited about and how business has changed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What to expect while fundraising in 2021 — DocSend CEO Russ Heddleston peers into a post-pandemic future.

(Extra Crunch is our membership program, which aims to democratize information about startups. You can sign up here.)

Everything else

Gift Guide: 9 security and privacy gifts to keep your friends and family safe — It’s a good time to evaluate how you’re keeping your data safe, and to help others in your life do the same.

Disney+ has plans for 10 Marvel shows and 10 Star Wars shows in the next few years — The company announced an ambitious slate of streaming originals.

Give the gift of Extra Crunch for 25% off — Speaking of Extra Crunch, TechCrunch readers can send an annual membership as a gift to a friend, family member or co-worker for 25% off.

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