The final week of January has been a wild one in the world of tech. From the David VS Goliath GameStop stock saga to the record-breaking milestones posted in Apple and Facebook’s quarterly report, the week was stocked with surprises.
Here is a quick roundup of some of the major stories around the globe you might have missed.
Robinhood restricts GameStop, AMC trading
Popular US investment app, Robinhood has responded to the upsurge in retail investors buying shares in companies like GameStop, AMC and Blockbuster by restricting trading. The company placed restrictions that prevented users from buying more of the companies’ stocks.
This decision came after the WallStreetBets forum on Reddit spurred the current buying spree of stocks like Gamestop and AMC which was shorted by institutional investors.
Robinhood’s decision to restrict the stocks has been hit with criticism from both politicians and users. This followed a coordinated campaign by some disgruntled users to give the app a one-star review on Google’s Play Store.
However, Google has removed nearly 100,000 negative reviews of the Robinhood app from Play Store to bring the rating back up to nearly four stars.
SpaceX sets new record for most satellites on a single launch
SpaceX has set a new all-time record for the most satellites launched and deployed on a single space mission. The Transporter-1 flight launch included 143 satellites, 10 Starlink satellites and 133 other satellites which were from other companies that booked rides.
The launch was the first of SpaceX’s dedicated rideshare missions in which it splits up the payload capacity of its rocket among multiple customers.
With the latest launch, SpaceX has added more Starlink satellites to more than 1,000 already sent to orbit to power its broadband communication network.
SpaceX has revealed that it has begun serving internet to beta customers in Canada and is expanding to the U.K. with its private pre-launch test of that service.
Google offers grants and facilities to aid COVID-19 vaccine distribution
Search giant, Google is offering grants and opening its facilities to help COVID-19 vaccine distribution.
Google CEO, Sundar Pichai revealed that the company has pledge ad grants and funding worth a total of $150 million to health organizations and public health agencies to promote vaccine education.
He added that it is partnering with One Medical and public health authorities to open vaccination sites in cites like Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area in California
Google is the latest in the long line of big techs including Amazon, Walmart, Starbucks and Microsoft that have pledged support to help increase vaccinations.
Uber Sacks 15 percent of Postmates’ Employees
Months after acquiring food delivery rival, Postmates, Uber is laying off about 185 people at Postmates in an obvious move to cut cost.
Uber recently sold its self-driving car and flying taxi divisions in a bid to cut unnecessary expenses.
Also, most of the executives are leaving, including founder and CEO Bastian Lehmann.
The layoffs come as Uber melds its Eats platform with Postmates. Although there will still be a distinct Postmates app, it will increasingly run on Uber Eats technology.
Calendly, a cloud scheduling platform raises $350m
Calendly LLC, a Cloud scheduling startup founded by Nigerian-born Tope Awotona has raised $350 million in new funding round. This investment has now valued the company at more than $3 billion.
The funding round was led by OpenView Venture Partners, a Boston-based expansion-stage firm and existing investor, with participation from San Fransisco-based Iconiq Capital.
The new influx of fund will be used to provide liquidity for early shareholders and employees while continuing product development.
You can check out other news that happened during the week here. Have a nice weekend!!