Sampleson release SkyWaves Sampleson’s latest software instrument combines four synth layers with a trio of effects modules and some powerful macro controls. 

In Memory of Paul DaCruz - SOS North America Sales Manager R.I.P. It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our longtime colleague, good friend, and Sound On Sound North America Sales Manager, Paul DaCruz.

Balancer exploited in nearly $900k after vulnerability warningDeFi protocol Balancer was exploited just a few days after disclosing a vulnerability affecting its boosted pools.

The battery business is booming and Zeekr kicks off it IPO roadshowThe Station is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation. Sign up here — just click The Station — to receive the newsletter every weekend in your inbox. Subscribe for free. 
Welcome back to The Station, your central hub for all past, present and future means of moving people and packages from Point A to Point B.
We have a lot to cover so let’s jump in. But wait! One note to share: These days, I’m a semi-regular guest on TechCrunch’s Equity Podcast, including an episode that aired Friday that covers robotaxis, Nvidia’s earning, plus Better.com and startups that are full of shit (you’ll get the joke if you listen).
Vamos.

Want to reach out with a tip, comment or complaint? Email Kirsten at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com.
Reminder that you can drop us a note at tips@techcrunch.com. If you prefer to remain anonymous, click here to contact us, which includes SecureDrop (instructions here) and various encrypted messaging apps.
Deal of the week

The battery business keeps attracting capital.
Just take a look at Swedish lithium-ion battery producer Northvolt. The company raised around $1.2 billion in a convertible notes from BlackRock and various Canadian pension plans. Participants in the round included Goldman Sachs, Volkswagen, Baillie Gifford, Swedbank Robur, Singapore’s GIC and Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Enterprises.
That cash will be used to build new factories in North America and Europe.
Northvolt has been on a bit of tear the past few years — even before the big battery boom really took off. The company has raised $9 billion in debt and equity since 2017, including $1.1 billion in convertible notes last year. The company has also secured more than $55 billion in orders from customers like BMW, Fluence, Scania, Volvo and Volkswagen.
The Northvolt deal gives me another chance to plug a collection of articles we put together earlier this month on the one-year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act, including a look at how startups have benefited and a map that tracks all the battery factories in North America. Once Northvolt picks a location for this next factory, we’ll update the map.
Other deals that caught my attention …
Accure, a startup that uses AI to predict lithium-ion battery failures, raised $7.8 million in a Series A2 round led by Blue Bear Capital and HSBC Asset Management with participation from Riverstone Holdings and Capnamic Ventures.
Channel19, a startup that developed software for refrigerated trucking companies, raised $2.7 million in pre-seed and seed funding round led by Augment Ventures with participation by Accion Venture Lab, TMV, Overton Venture Capital and Refashiond Ventures. Several Silicon Valley and freight tech industry angels also participated, according to the company.
Electric Era, a startup founded by former SpaceX engineers that developed software and hardware to make EV charging stations faster and more reliable, raised $11.5 million in a Series A round led by HSBC’s asset management arm. Climate-tech fund Blackhorn, lithium-mining giant SQM and mobility-focused investor Proeza also participated.
NaaS Technology Inc., an EV charging service company in China, said it plans to acquire Charge Amps AB in a deal valued at $66.4 million.
Nickelytics, an advertising tech startup focused on rideshare, has been acquired by Texas-based venture capital group T72 Club Inc. Terms were not disclosed.
Zeekr, the Chinese EV maker under Geely Holdings, is kicking off its roadshow with investors ahead of its initial public offering, Reuters reported citing unnamed sources. Zeekr’s aim is a share sale that will push its valuation over $13 billion. Zeekr filed confidentially for an IPO back in December and raised $750 million in February. If Zeekr is successful and actually lists, this could be one of the largest Chinese IPOs in the past two years.
Chinese companies listing on U.S. exchanges haven’t had the smoothest of rides. Didi, which raised $4.4 billion in its June 2021 IPO,  ran up against Chinese regulators. The company delisted later that year. A few other Chinese companies, including Hesai are dipping their toes back in the U.S. IPO waters now that there is more regulatory clarity in both countries. Last year, the U.S. and China struck a deal that allows American officials to review audit documents of Chinese businesses that trade in the United States, an agreement expected to lower the likelihood of Chinese companies on U.S. exchanges delisting.
Notable reads and other tidbits

ADAS
Polestar plans to make Mobileye’s hands-off, eyes-off automated driving technology (called Chauffeur) available to owners of the upcoming Polestar 4 electric SUV coupe. The vehicle, which launched in China and will hit global markets in 2024, comes standard with Mobileye’s SuperVision advanced driver assistance system. Polestar plans to add Chauffeur at a later date, but did not specify when.
Tesla shareholders who sued the company for financial losses stemming from Elon Musk’s “funding secured” tweet in 2018 are set to receive compensation now that the case has been settled. The SEC said 3,350 eligible claimants will share in the $42.3 million payout.
Speaking of Tesla, CEO Elon Musk livestreamed a test drive of FSD Beta v12 — a yet-to-be-released version of its automated driving software (the video has since been posted on YouTube by a number of people). To be clear, this is not a self-driving car; it is ADAS that requires a human to be ready to intervene at any time. The 40-minute video showed the vehicle handling roundabouts and intersections and even some construction. At about the 19-minute mark Musk had to intervene and take control of the vehicle when it misread the traffic signal and tried to go through a busy intersection at the wrong time.
Autonomous vehicles
Baidu expanded its Apollo Go driverless ride-hailing service to cover trips to and from Wuhan Tianhe International Airport. The company now operates Apollo Go robotaxis in five cities in China.
Beep has partnered with self-driving software company Oxa (previously known as Oxbotica) to deploy autonomous vehicles in the United States.
Electric vehicles, charging & batteries
Jaguar Land Rover has found a use for its second-life Jaguar I-Pace batteries.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating whether Ford‘s 2022 recall of nearly 49,000 Mustang Mach-E electric vehicles sufficiently addressed issues and whether more vehicles should be included in the recall.
Gig economy
Uber is blaming high insurance rates for its decision to raise the minimum age requirement for new drivers in California to 25 years old. There are some caveats though.
People
General Motors’ Ultium Cells, the joint venture with LG Energy Solutions, reached an agreement with the United Auto Workers to increase pay for workers at its Ohio battery factory by an average of 25%.
Wu Xinzhou, the former vice president of autonomous driving at Chinese electric vehicle maker Xpeng, posted on social media site Weibo that he’s taken a job at Nvidia.
Disrupt!

Vroom vroom! TechCrunch Disrupt 2023, taking place in San Francisco on September 19–21, is where you’ll get the inside scoop on the future of mobility. Come and hear from today’s leading mobility entrepreneurs on what it takes to build and innovate for a more sustainable future. Save up to $400 when you buy your pass now through September 18, and save 15% on top of that with promo code STATION. Learn more.

Out Take: Tim Burnett Tim Burnett 

VP of Business and Publishing Administration, Heavy Hitters

VP of Music Publishing Administration, Made in Memphis Entertainment

Web: heavyhittersmusic.com, mimecorp.com

Contact: Bill Greenwood, bill@jaybirdcom.com

Tim Burnett is the VP of Business and Publishing Administration at Heavy Hitters Music, a boutique song catalog and music publisher that pitches for sync placements in film, television, games and more. It’s part of the Made in Memphis Entertainment family of companies, where Burnett is also VP of Music Publishing Administration. “This job requires a love of music, obviously, but going beyond that, you have to have a knowledge of a diversity of music. Everyone has styles they gravitate to, but in the sync world, we’re looking for everything. We say that when we pitch clients. Pop may be a 10-lane highway, metal might be a dirt road, but all music has a lane. You have to be able to listen to all those styles of music and find out where they fit,” Burnett says. 

Heavy Hitters and MIME offer regular “sync camps,” during which their writers, artists and producers collaborate with other companies to create music licensing opportunities, which most recently resulted in a placement in Season 2 of the Showtime series Your Honor starring Bryan Cranston. 

“In the sync world, you don’t know what you’re going to get from day to day, which makes it exciting,” Burnett says. “Any given day we could get a brief asking for anything―something that sounds similar to Drake, or something that has a ‘60s Motown sound. We never know what someone is going to be asking for, so it’s always interesting.”  

But the amount of content available through streaming platforms is also the most challenging part of the job, Burnett says. “We’re constantly trying to identify and fill gaps in the catalog, and we also know that it is a very competitive space. Everything we’re pitching for―other companies are pitching for the same thing. That’s why it’s so rewarding when we land a placement.” 

Burnett says being a good student is one of the most valuable skills someone aspiring to work in the sync licensing world can have. “When I look to acquire talent, a willingness to learn and just being open to the possibilities is the most valuable,” he says. •

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Room Sonics: New audio consultancy company Specialising in on-site acoustical assessments, acoustic design and speaker alignments, Room Sonics was formed with the aim of providing best possible listening quality for audio professionals and domestic listeners alike.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s life in jail, Tornado Cash’s turmoil, and a $3B BTC whale: Hodler’s Digest, Aug. 20-26Sam Bankman-Fried faces challenges in jail, Tornado Cash’s developer is arrested, and a Bitcoin whale holding $3 billion is identified.

Microsoft brings Python to Excel, Cruise reduces fleet following crash, and MrBeast creates controversyHello, folks, and welcome to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch’s regular newsletter that covers the biggest happenings in tech over the past few days. Haven’t been able to follow the news closely? Don’t sweat it. WiR will get you up to speed.
In this edition of WiR, we cover Microsoft bringing Python to Excel, Cruise being forced to reduce its robotaxi fleet following a crash, and Amazon launching its new Fire TV Channels app. We also recap Twitter competitor Bluesky buckling under load, influencer MrBeast’s poorly timed Olympics video, IBM building a code translator for COBOL, and Snapchat expanding further into generative AI.
If you haven’t already, sign up here to get WiR in your inbox every Saturday. Now, without further ado, here’s the week’s news!

Most read
Microsoft brings Python to Excel: Microsoft this week announced the public preview of Python in Excel, which will allow advanced spreadsheet users to combine scripts in the popular Python language and their usual Excel formulas in the same workbook. The feature will first roll out to Microsoft 365 Insiders as part of the Excel for Windows beta channel, Frederic reports.
Cruise told to reduce fleet following crash: Cruise, the self-driving car subsidiary of GM, has been asked by the California Department of Motor Vehicles to reduce its robotaxi fleet by 50% in San Francisco following a crash Thursday night with a fire truck.

MrBeast’s geopolitical nightmare: Billionaire creator MrBeast inadvertently stoked generations of geopolitical tension in his latest YouTube video, in which participants from “every country on Earth” competed in “Squid Game”-like elimination challenges for a chance to win $250,000. It was the countries that weren’t included in the competition, as well as the map featured in the video, that made the stunt ripe for discourse.
IBM taps AI to translate COBOL code: IBM this week unveiled Code Assistant for IBM Z, which uses a code-generating AI model to translate COBOL (one of the older programming languages in use) into Java syntax. It’s potentially quite handy, considering there’s over 800 billion lines of COBOL in use on production systems and a strong desire among many of the companies using it to migrate to more modern languages.
Amazon launches Fire TV Channels app: Amazon announced Monday the launch of its new Fire TV Channels app, giving Fire TV customers access to over 400 free ad-supported TV channels, including ABC News, CBS Sports, Fox Sports, MLB, Martha Stewart and more.
Bluesky struggles with growing popularity: X (formerly Twitter) competitor Bluesky buckled following Elon Musk’s announcement that X will no longer support blocking users in favor of mutes only. The company has often had to deal with an influx of users when Twitter announces particularly unwelcome changes, Sarah writes.
Snapchat adds new generative AI features: Snapchat is preparing to further expand into generative AI features, after earlier launching its AI-powered chatbot My AI, which can now respond with a Snap back, not just text. With the company’s forthcoming generative AI feature called “Dreams,” Snap will again experiment with AI images — but soon, those images may contain you and your friends in imaginative backgrounds.
Phone hacking company tries to keep tech secret: For years, cops and other government authorities all over the world have been using phone hacking technology provided by Cellebrite to unlock phones and obtain the data within. And the company has been keen on keeping the use of its technology “hush hush,” Lorenzo reports.
Audio
Have a hankering for new podcast content? You’re in luck. TechCrunch has plenty on deck for your listening enjoyment.
On Equity, the crew discussed Nvidia’s earnings report, raises from Ramp and AI-powered writing platform Lex, Northvolt’s move to North America, the story behind Better.com’s IPO and startups that are literally full of crap (it’ll make sense once you listen — trust me).
Meanwhile, Found focused on Feyi Ayodele, the co-founder and CEO of CancerIQ, a precision health company designed for physicians to help their patients with monitoring cancer risk and prevention. Ayodele recounted how she came up with the startup idea while hiking Mount Kilimanjaro with her mother.
And on Chain Reaction, Erik Svenson talked about Blockstream, a bitcoin and blockchain-focused infrastructure firm that he helped co-found in 2014. Blockstream has its own sidechain technology, Liquid Network, as well as bitcoin mining operations and hardware wallets for Bitcoin and other assets.
TechCrunch+
TC+ subscribers get access to in-depth commentary, analysis and surveys — which you know if you’re already a subscriber. If you’re not, consider signing up. Here are a few highlights from this week:
OnlyFans proves the creator economy boom was real: Venture capital investment into the creator economy category slowed down significantly starting in the second half of 2022. But Ron and Anna write about how OnlyFans’ profitability suggests that there’s juice in the sector yet.
Nvidia rides the AI wave — but for how long?: When Nvidia announced eye-popping earnings on Wednesday with three-digit year-over-year growth, it was easy to get caught up in the excitement. But the lingering question is, can it keep it up?
The late-stage venture market is crumbling: New data from CB Insights details that there have been sharp valuation declines across nearly every startup stage around the world. But is that a reason for panic? Alex and Anna don’t think so — at least not now.
Grab your pass to TC Disrupt 2023
Join 10,000 startup leaders in San Francisco at TechCrunch Disrupt on September 19–21. Last-minute passes are still available. Save 15% with code WIR. Register now!

Exec Profile: Allen Sanford of BeachLife FestivalAllen Sanford

Founder

BeachLife

Years with Company: 5

Address: 239 North Harbor Dr., Redondo Beach, CA 90277

Web: beachliferanch.com

Email: info@thebeachlifefestival.com

Publicity: Angela Moreno, amoreno@falconpublicity.com, 805-390-5263

Clients: Tons of satisfied concert attendees

BACKGROUND

Allen Sanford grew up loving California’s sandy coasts. Naturally, he thought it wise to create a festival that revolved around the beach lifestyle. BeachLife began in 2019, later expanding with a second festival devoted to Americana, country, and roots music, BeachLife Ranch. Sanford and his team are also building a 15,000 square foot theater called the California Ocean Club, which will deliver the same sunny vibe all year.

Music + Beach Culture = BeachLife

Our festival is different from a lot of festivals. Most festivals aren’t created around any sort of culture. It’s more organized by genre of music. Obviously, there are a lot of festivals that are not subject to what I’m talking about. But our festival was created to serve a certain type of fan. It’s as much about the culture and community as it is the music. 

Building on Sand

Any show you do near the water makes it much more difficult to build. The stages and structures have to be designed with a lot more strength. Instead of wheeling things in, you’re using tractors. It definitely provides challenges. 

But the question of whether it’s worth it is a no-brainer. Every time the sun sets and there’s a band playing, we look at each other and go, “Yep, that was worth it.”

Many Moving Parts

I would love to tell you I never worry about anything, but that would be a lie. You’re depending on a lot of human beings to do their jobs. We have about 1,200 people working the festival. If you think about how much has to go right to have a successful festival, it’s daunting. I’ve run a lot of businesses over my career, but none that are as 3D-chess as this and with as many moving parts. 

Choosing Artists

I have a partner. After each festival, we’ll sit down and talk. We like to span generations, so we’ll go old-new-old-new. And then we spitball headliner names, with the preface that it’s got to fit within the BeachLife culture and vibe. 

And then we get at it. I do all the booking, because I’m fairly particular. It’s like putting together a video montage and you want each frame to be right. It’s one thing to get all the right frames, and it’s another to put them in the right order. 

Finding Artists

We’re not a huge festival, and we’re not trying to be a festival where the only reason somebody comes is because of the names. So, we like to pick ones you wouldn’t immediately shine after, maybe aren’t playing the festival circuits that year. I look at a lot of festival posters, and it tends to be the same artists. 

We have an area on our website where you can pitch [yourself as an artist to perform]. And we go to the agencies and ask them to send us anybody they think might fit. We have a stage for up-and-coming artists. It doesn’t matter how many fans you have; it matters how good your music is. 

Gone Country

Country music kind of gives me the same feel in my heart that the beach life does. I grew up going to the central California coast, where it’s a little more cowboy land. And I love the idea of mixing that with the cowboy-surfer mentality. Surfers are like the cowboys of the coast―riding waves and riding horses. It seemed like a cool way to send our culture into the winter. Having us on both ends of the summer seemed like a great idea. 

A Vibe of Respect

I think [throwing things at artists on stage] is super lame. I couldn’t think of a more despicable thing to do to somebody who’s putting one’s heart out there. 

I don’t think we’d ever have that issue at BeachLife, because we have a respectful culture. If we did, those people wouldn’t be welcome. That’s not what the beach life is about. At BeachLife, if you drop your wallet, somebody will pick it up for you. That’s the culture we try to promote. 

Keeping Everyone Safe

A lot of times, people who do festivals are music people. They’re not security people. And they hire an outside security company to make them safe. Many times, these companies fail. 

We wanted to take extra precaution. We brought on one of the best, a former chief of police with 30 years as a police officer. I’ve got my five-year-old daughter running around, so that’s my litmus test for how safe this festival needs to be. 

Singing the Pandemic Blues

COVID was brutal. I’m in restaurants and live music. You couldn’t pick worse verticals to be in during a pandemic. It was very tough. Luckily, we came back to a hunger for live events. That gave us the motivation to get back on our feet. It was a journey, for sure. I’m glad it’s behind us.

[The live music industry is] still finding its way. It weeded out a lot of small people, so the Live Nations are stronger than they’ve ever been. But as time goes by, more independents will pop up again, hopefully. 

Switching On and Off

The [BeachLife] app is a cool tool to help people enjoy the festival. Our whole goal is using technology to make the experience better. But we’re also not guys that love being on the phone at a show. It’s a fine line between using technology to improve the experience but also not overdeveloping to where fans are on their phones instead of enjoying the show. 

Dining On Stage

The perfect experience for me would be eating a nice meal on the side of the stage with a glass of wine. So, when we created the festival, we asked Michelin-level chefs to come. I don’t think any other festival’s doing this. We’ve had all sorts of crazy chefs, and they design their menus based on the type of artist they’re paired with. It’s another cool experience that you don’t get often in this world. 

Everything But Water Sports

We stay away from the swimming. Swimming and drinking is not a good mix. And you’d also have to bring a change of clothes and all that stuff. 

We’ve got a Kids Zone. We have a karaoke bar. We’ve got a sports lounge for those that like to watch sports. [We have] tons of shopping, tons of health and wellness. We have an arts area. We bring in a lot of musicians who are also graphic artists who sell their art. Last festival, Chad Smith, drummer for the Chili Peppers, was selling his art. We want to indulge your senses over and above the music. 

DonationLife

It wouldn’t be genuine of us to call our festival BeachLife but not care about the beach life. We have a mission statement as to whom we support. Our May festival focuses on ocean- and kid-related philanthropies, and our September festival focuses on hero philanthropies, like police, fire, and veterans. I happen to be the chairman of the local police foundation, so I’m a big supporter of first responders. The least we could do is help them raise some money. 

We do ticket giveaways. We have a big party at the beginning of Ranch for several charities. And pretty soon we’re going to be launching our own 501(c)(3) to help these same causes on a local level. I think we raised $150,000 for local charities last May. Not too shabby for an independent festival. • 

Creating your music career: A step-by-step blueprint for success
From zero to upload, veteran producer Isaac Duarte overviews the full process for getting your career in music production started.

Getting It Done: Last Week in D.I.Y. & Indie MusicLast week, our tips and advice for independent, do-it-yourselfers covered how to market music on TikTok, a look at Spacloud, music merch in 2023, how to submit Grammy entries, and. Continue reading
The post Getting It Done: Last Week in D.I.Y. & Indie Music appeared first on Hypebot.