Le Studio Monthly - September
💻 News of the Month
The Queen is dead. Long live the King. But who’s in charge of the royal corgis is my question.
⛅ End of several eras
Queen Elizabeth, the longest reigning monarch, died in her favorite house in Balmoral, a year and half after her husband, Prince Philip passed away. Her son, Charles, de facto becomes the new King, under the name King Charles III.
This month, Mikhail Gorbachev died at 91. As the last Soviet Union leader, he was instrumental in ending the Cold War between Russia and the US.
Two of the greatest players Tennis has ever seen retired this month: Serena Williams and Roger Federer.
Source: The Hustle
👇 IPOs slow down
The IPO market faces its biggest freeze in more than 10 years. This is mainly due to the fact that around 87% of companies that IPO’d in 2021 are trading below their initial offering price.
🍝 Right Wing Win
Giorgia Meloni is well on her way to become Italy’s first woman prime minister and its most right-wing leader since World War II. Her party originated in the neofascism movement of the postwar era and has openly criticized the “LGBT lobby” and called for a naval blockade of immigrants.
She is said to believe that Lords of the Ring is real. Big red flag.
🪧 Iran Protests
Iranians filled the streets this month to protest the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman died after she was arrested by Iran’s morality police. This section of the police is tasked with enforcing laws that require women to wear a headscarf (hijab) and loose-fitting clothing in public. Unfortunately, five people have been killed in the protests. The US has offered support to the protestants in the form of wifi access.
🟢 Green Legacy
Yvon Chouinard (Patagonia’s founder) is giving away his $3B company to a collective whose goal will be to contribute the brand’s $100m/yr. in profits to fight climate change.
📉 If you fail, why not fail more?
SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 is now worth 19% less than the $49B they put into it. The GPs are considering starting a Vision Fund 3.
🪙 Blockchain optimization
Ethereum merged its two blockchains into one based on proof-of-stake), in an attempt to reduce its energy use by 99.95% and pave the way for the second biggest cryptocurrency network to grow. Ethereum accounted for 20% to 39% of all of crypto’s electricity use as of August, and its annual carbon emissions are on par with Singapore’s.
🔢 Data of the Month
Adobe plans to acquire Figma for $20bn. In 2021, Figma’s rapid growth helped it reach “decacorn” status by securing $200m at a $10B valuation.
Indian billionaire Gautam Adani is now the world’s 2nd-richest person, with ~$147bn fortune, replacing Jeff Bezos ($146bn). He’s the first Asian man to rank that high. Indomitable Elon Musk remains in the top spot with $260bn.
OnlyFans creators make bank. They earned $3.9 billion in 2021. That’s a 115% annual jump for creators on the adult content-focused platform. The number of creators grew 34% from 2020 to 2.16 million, but most of those creators aren’t pulling in 6 figures. About 16,000 OnlyFans creators earn at least $50,000 annually, while about 300 earn $1+ million.
“Ugly produce” grocer Misfits Market is acquiring rival Imperfect Foods, doubling the size of its business. It’s expected to hit $1B in annual revenue within the next two years.
In August, global venture funding fell to $25.2 billion, per Crunchbase, less than half of the ~$53 billion invested one year prior, and the lowest monthly venture-funding total in 2 years. Monthly venture funding has been decreasing since it hit a record high of $69.4 billion in November 2021, as rising rates, inflation, and general economic uncertainty have turned the investing temperature from mild summer to Game of Thrones-type Winter. However, $25bn in monthly VC funding is still huge; and VCs are sitting on a record high of more than half a trillion dollars in dry powder.
TikTok is copying viral social app BeReal with a new feature called TikTok Now. Meanwhile, Instagram’s working on “IG Candid Challenges”. Don’t they say imitation is the ultimate form of flattery?
Two interesting graphs:
🔎 Finds of the Month
Love free trials? Here is a database - if you want to try stuff without the fees nor the commitment.
Welcome to the nicest place on this internet. Unwanted hug.
🕔 LONG-FORM Article
♟️ A massive cheating scandal is rocking the Chess world.
Me, when I read the theories on how Hans Niemann might have cheated.
(Full text from the Hustle):
“On September 4, world champion Magnus Carlsen was defeated by 19-year-old American Hans Niemann at the Sinquefield Cup tournament in St. Louis (prize money: $350,000). Carlsen, whose loss to the inferior Niemann came as a big shock, withdrew from the tournament and suggested in a Twitter post that Niemann had cheated. Other big names in the sport declared Niemann’s play “sus,” and online chess giant Chess.com banned him from the site over this and other cheating allegations.
One theory is that Niemann got his hands on Carlsen’s game plan ahead of time, and could anticipate his surprise opening. Another, slightly more ridiculous hypothesis alleges that Niemann linked wireless anal beads to a computer to alert him of the correct moves by vibrating. To no one’s surprise, this is the theory that Elon Musk endorsed on Twitter.
Niemann has vigorously denied he cheated against Carlsen, and said he’ll play fully naked to prove it. Other chess pros have defended Niemann, calling the allegations a “witch hunt.” Either way, chess is in chaos right now”.
🔉 Podcast of the Month
(again) Under the Hood, by Le Studio - where we chat about the true ins and outs of entrepreneurship, with real life innovators.
Listen, share, comment!
💼 Jobs
Some of our companies are hiring! Check out their openings:
🙌🏼 Thanks for reading! See you next month!
⭐ We'd also love to hear more of your feedback. Tell us what you think and what you want to see in the future in this digest at m.plata@tamar.capital- cheers !