Apple surprises with positive quarterly figures

The iPhone drove sales up again. Also: Amazon continues to grow thanks to its cloud division and Bill Gates is investing in air conditioning startup Blue Frontier.

Good morning! While you slept, work continued elsewhere in the digital scene.

The top topics:

Apple presented the figures for the past third fiscal quarter (through the end of June) and slightly exceeded Wall Street’s expectations in terms of both sales and earnings per share. Overall, sales in the third quarter increased by two percent to approximately 83 billion US dollars. Analysts had expected $82.8 billion. Profits fell by more than ten percent to $ 19.4 billion. Earnings per share shrank as expected, but the decline was less than feared, falling eight percent to $1.20.

The iPhone drove success again: Sales of the smartphone grew from $39.6 billion in the same period last year to almost $40.7 billion. According to calculations by the analysis company Canalys, the tech group was able to increase its share of the overall shrinking smartphone market by nine percent in the past quarter thanks to good sales of the iPhone 13. The stock market reacted positively to the results. The stock gained around 3 percent in after-hours trading. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt, Wall Street Journal, CNBC und Techcrunch]

On Gründerszene you read today: Almost everything can now be delivered to your home – so why not have things picked up, thought the founders of the Hamburg start-up Recyclehero. The company is setting up a service that collects used glass, returnable bottles and other recyclables such as paper on the doorstep and disposes of them for private households and companies. Preferably in a sustainable way with a cargo bike. [Mehr bei Gründerszene]

And here are the other headlines of the night:

Amazon significantly increased its sales in the second quarter. Despite high inflation and fears of recession, revenues climbed seven percent year-on-year to $121.2 billion. The bottom line, however, was a minus of two billion dollars, since the group lost its stake in the electric car manufacturer Rivian had to evaluate again. The online retailer is growing primarily with its cloud division and external sellers. The company’s own online trade, on the other hand, is declining. Investors were buoyed by the news, with Amazon shares up more than 10 percent in after-hours trading. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt, CNBC, The Information und Wall Street Journal]

Breakthrough Energy VenturesBill Gates’ clean-tech investment fund, has raised $20 million in the air-conditioning startup Blue Frontier directed. The Blue Frontier air conditioner uses a saline solution as a liquid desiccant to do both the cooling and dehumidifying work performed by refrigerants in traditional air conditioning systems. The saline solution can serve as an energy store, which can, for example, balance peak energy demands during the hottest summer days. [Mehr bei CNBC]

Variant, a crypto VC firm, has raised two new funds to invest in Web3 startups: a $150M seed fund and a second $300M fund to support projects with “proven traction”. The new funds will invest in decentralized finance, blockchain infrastructure, and consumer-focused crypto startups, among others. Despite the collapse in crypto prices and a spate of bankruptcies at crypto lending companies, new venture funds are currently gaining momentum. [Mehr bei The Information]

Year expects a sharp decline in third-quarter revenue as the economic turmoil continues to weigh on the advertising business. Roku’s total net sales rose more than 18 percent to $764.4 million in the second quarter, but fell short of analysts’ estimates of $805.2 million. The California-based company reported a loss of 82 cents per share, more than the 69 cents per share loss analysts had been expecting. Roku forecasts revenue growth of 3 percent to $700 million for the current quarter. The shares of the streaming platform fell by 26 percent in after-hours trading. [Mehr bei The Information, CNBC und Reuters]

The shares of Intel are down more than 10 percent after the chipmaker reported a 22 percent year-over-year decline in revenue along with a net loss of $454 million for its July quarter. At the same time, Intel lowered its full-year revenue and earnings guidance. The results fell well short of quarterly financial targets set by Intel in April and point to a precipitous decline in demand for PCs and servers. [Mehr bei Bloomberg, CNBC und The Information]

Our reading tip on Gründerszene: Who at Usage Invests six-figure sums, is allowed to live in apartments alternately with others. There are many competitors for the model. [Mehr bei Gründerszene]

Don’t want to miss anything? Then subscribe to our Gründerszene newsletter! It appears every morning at 8:30 a.m. and brings you all the important news straight to your inbox.

Happy Friday!

Your Gründerszene editors