Telegram founder Pavel Durov said that the company expects to hit profitability next year with eyes on going public in the future.
While Telegram is not looking to raise a mega round, the company is open to investment in exchange for smaller equity.
The company also offers ad solutions for one-to-many channels and plans to launch ad revenue sharing with channel owners this month.
Durov told FT that ad solutions currently are limited to certain geographies and the company mandates agencies to spend between €1mn and €10mn.
Apart from these solutions, Telegram has also experimented with blockchain-based projects through the TON foundation.
Spotify has revealed plans to increase subscription fees in France, in response to a new tax directed at music-streaming services operating in the country.
While all the impacted companies are opposing the new law, Spotify has been the most vociferous, largely due to the fact it is the biggest player in the country.
The company wrote in a blog post today:“With the creation of this new tax, Spotify would be required to give approximately two-thirds of every euro it generates to music to rights holders and the French government.
What’s perhaps the most telling part of this whole episode is how important France is to Spotify in terms of market traction.
With regards to France, Spotify is conveying as much — if not more — grievance with the new tax as it did with Uruguay, yet it has given no indication that it will exit the country.
After adding 15 hours of free audiobooks listening to its subscription plan late last year, Spotify today is introducing a $9.99 per month option that will allow its free users to also access its audiobooks collection.
With the addition, free Spotify users will able to continue to stream music and podcasts via its ad-supported service, but pay to listen to audiobooks without having to buy a Spotify subscription.
However, the move could allow Spotify to upsell audiobooks to customers who aren’t as interested in its music service, or who regularly use another app for that.
15 hours is fairly generous, as it often encompasses more listening time than one audiobook alone, if not two shorter books.
The company today also offered an update on the interest that free users have for audiobooks, noting that since launching audiobooks for its Premium subscribers, it’s seen a 45% increase in free users searching for and interacting with audiobook content each day.
Six months on from its launch, Subsets has already claimed some decent customers including the New York Times’-owned Athletic and Danish newspaper Børsen.
The media businessWhile Subsets could be applied to any subscription business, it’s currently focused on the digital media vertical.
Subsets allows non-technical teams to run retention “experiments” on subsets (hence the company name) of their subscriber base, to see what actions might lead a customer to staying on-board.
These experiments might be a series of push notifications or email offering a subscription discount, or perhaps a free upgrade to unlock new features.
Aside from lead backers Upfin and YC, Subsets’ pre-seed round included investments from a slew of institutional and angel investors including Cuesta Labs; Sandhill Markets; and Peakon founder Phillip Chambers.
In an effort to retain developers, Apple has begun its pilot tests of “contingent pricing,” a new way for them to market App Store subscriptions, TechCrunch has learned.
That’s the case with the debut pilot test of contingent pricing that pairs up two apps: Structured and one sec.
(An interesting choice for the pilot, given Apple and Meta’s ongoing beef over App Tracking Transparency, which Meta said harmed its business!)
With contingent pricing, customers who subscribe to one of the apps can receive a discount if subscribing to the other.
Apple says it helps the developers with the implementation of contingent pricing to make the redemption process “seamless” for customers purchasing through its App Store.
The new rules prevent “anti-steering” practices, whereby the platform owner — in this case Apple — prevents app developers from informing their users about alternative payment or subscription options.
And the DMA also has provisions for preventing gatekeepers from requiring developers to use their own payment services.
“For years, even in our own app, Apple had these rules where we couldn’t tell you about offers, how much something costs, or even where or how to buy it.
The DMA means that we’ll finally be able to share details about deals, promotions, and better-value payment options in the EU,” Spotify said in a blog post.
One where you can see all subscription pricing, promotions or deals, and even make purchases, all seamlessly within the app.
That emphasis on sustainability is translating into a goal at Finn to have 80% of its car inventory electric by 2028, from 40% today.
Previous backers such as HV Capital, Korelya Capital, UVC Partners, White Star Capital and Picus Capital are also participating.
It’s been a very bumpy road for the car subscription market over the years.
The idea of car subscriptions is neat, but the execution is not.
And it’s brokered deals in advance with car retailers to buy up the vehicles when subscriptions are finished.
OpenAI is launching a new subscription plan for ChatGPT, its viral AI-powered chatbot, aimed at smaller, self-service-oriented teams.
Aptly called ChatGPT Team, the plan provides a dedicated workspace for teams up to 149 people using ChatGPT as well as admin tools for team management.
ChatGPT Team also lets people within a team build and share GPTs, custom apps based on OpenAI’s text-generating AI models.
ChatGPT Team is priced at $30 per user per month or $25 per user per month billed annually — higher than ChatGPT Plus, OpenAI’s individual premium ChatGPT plan, which costs $20 per month.
ChatGPT Team seems tailor-made for small- and medium-sized business customers who want team-oriented ChatGPT features without having to pay top dollar for them.
Today, the company unveiled its new generation of GPS device, Tack GPS Plus, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2024.
The company claims Tack GPS Plus reduces search time in high-rise cities by offering vertical distance and geographical coordinates.
The Tack GPS Plus can be widely used by parents, caregivers, pet owners, and more.
Tack GPS Plus follows the company’s second product, a palm-sized autonomous flood-detection device called Tack EVO FloodFinder.
Tack GPS Plus is now available on the company’s official website and will then be sold on Amazon, Lazada, and Shopee around mid-January.
He said there are around 350 shows published weekly, with only around “a handful” of creators making multiple shows, meaning it has around 350 creators using the platform today.
The Danish Export and Investment Fund (EIFO) is leading the round, with HighlandX and Augustinus Fabrikker also participating.
Strunge said that prior to this round, the company had raised just over €200 million.
Podimo’s funding and traction are coming at a tricky time for the podcasting industry.
The plan will be to take this model further, Strunge said, with a focus on ever-more “hyper local” content.
