Solana Labs Brings Web3 Mobile Phone – Business Insider

The device will cost $1,000 and will be available in early 2023. Also: More layoffs at Netflix and Nio test car crashes from third floor.

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

The top topics:

Solana Labs builds a Web3 mobile phone: The blockchain company from California announced the Android mobile phone called “Saga” in New York. This is a modified Osom phone with special crypto wallet functions and the software development kit “Solana Mobile Stack” for Web3 programs. The Saga will feature a Web3 dapp store, integrated Solana Pay, a mobile wallet adapter, and a Seed Vault that stores private keys. The crypto phone is priced at $1000 and is expected to ship in the first quarter of 2023.

Solana Labs said it will work with other companies to power the ecosystem to build the phone, including Magic Eden, the leading NFT marketplace, Phantom, the largest wallet provider, and Orca, a decentralized finance platform. When asked about the shortcomings of past attempts to launch crypto-friendly phones, CEO Anatoly Yakovenko said that the Solana phone is better positioned for success as there are now more crypto developers compared to previous attempts. [Mehr bei The Verge und Coindesk]

On Gründerszene you read today: About the Berlin Unicorn Gorillas and there is a lot of speculation about its future: Can CEO Kagan Sümer complete his long-announced round of financing? Is the only way to keep the delivery service alive, just an exit? Or maybe it’s not as dramatic as it seems? Our editors Sarah Heuberger and Lisa Ksienrzyk spoke to insiders and took a look at the competition. [Mehr bei Gründerszene+]

And here are the other headlines of the night:

Netflix laid off 300 employees, or three percent of its workforce, on Thursday. The company is currently continuing to cut costs to respond to slower revenue growth. The layoffs follow a workforce reduction of 150 employees a few weeks ago. Netflix reported a slight drop in subscriber numbers in the first quarter and warned of a larger drop in the second quarter. Netflix stock is down 70 percent so far this year. [Mehr bei The Information]

A test car from the Chinese electric vehicle startup Nio fell from a parking lot on the third floor of a building in Shanghai. Two people died as a result. Nio said it immediately launched an investigation into the accident in cooperation with the public security department. Nio provided those details in a post on China’s Twitter-like service Weibo, which was deleted just minutes after it was published. The company then published a new statement on Weibo that was very similar to the original one. After an on-site analysis, Nio said it can be tentatively confirmed that the accident was unrelated to the vehicle itself. In the new Weibo post, the company emphasized that the incident was an “accident” and was not caused by problems with the vehicle. [Mehr bei CNBC]

The online mail order company Zalando corrected his forecast. A statement said: “Zalando is now assuming macroeconomic challenges that will last longer and be more intense than initially assumed.” So far, Europe’s largest fashion portal has announced growth of twelve to 19 percent. For the second quarter of 2022, Zalando now expects lower revenue and earnings growth than previously assumed. Sales could even stagnate or at best increase by three percent to 10.7 billion euros. Zalando was profitable in the second quarter, according to the statement. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt]

Intel has indefinitely postponed groundbreaking on a proposed multi-billion dollar chip manufacturing facility in Ohio. The ceremony was tentatively scheduled for July 22. Intel informed the Ohio Governor’s Office that groundbreaking is being delayed “in part due to uncertainty” surrounding chip-related legislation. Announced in January, the facility would have been the most significant expansion of the US-based semiconductor facility in years. [Mehr bei Wall Street Journal und CNBC]

Instagram explores new options for followers to verify their age on the platform. The photo sharing service of Meta Platforms said he was partnering with Yoti entered, a company specializing in online age verification. Users can upload a video selfie to verify their age, after which Yoti’s technology will estimate age based on facial features. Another option is for users to select three common followers who confirm the person’s age. [Mehr bei Axios und Reuters]

Our reading tip on Gründerszene: Last week the Berlin portal Coachhub, which offers training via video call, closed a financing round of over 200 million euros. One of the new shareholders was the Star-VC Softbank. We now have the pitch deck exclusively for you. [Mehr bei Gründerszene+]

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Happy Friday! Starting next week, “While you slept” will take a summer break. On July 11th we will be back for you.

Your Gründerszene editors