The battle between Epic Games and Apple continues, Facebook faces criticism in India and Pinterest appoints its first Black board member. This is your Daily Crunch for August 17, 2020.
\nThe big story: Epic Games files injunction against Apple
\nEpic\u2019s legal and PR fight with Apple and its App Store policies seems to be escalating. The Fortnite-maker has filed an injunction in U.S. District Court, saying it was notified by Apple that all of its developer accounts and access to developer tools will be cut off at the end of next week.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Apple] told Epic that by August 28, Apple will cut off Epic\u2019s access to all development tools necessary to create software for Apple\u2019s platforms \u2014 including for the Unreal Engine Epic offers to third-party developers, which Apple has never claimed violated any Apple policy,\u201d Epic\u2019s lawyers said in their court filing.
\nFortnite was removed from Apple\u2019s App Store (and the Google Play Store) last week after Epic introduced direct payments. Apple said at the time that it would \u201cmake every effort to work with Epic to resolve these violations.\u201d
\nThe tech giants
\nFacebook faces heat in India after report on hate speech posts \u2014 The debate was sparked by a Wall Street Journal report claiming that Facebook\u2019s top public-policy executive in India had opposed applying the company\u2019s hate-speech rules to a member of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s party.
\nPinterest announces first Black board member \u2014 Pinterest has appointed Andrea Wishom, president of real estate company Skywalker Holdings and former Harpo Studios executive, to its board of directors.
\nGoogle warns users in Australia free services are at risk if it\u2019s forced to share ad revenue with \u2018big media\u2019 \u2014 Google has fired a lobbying pot-shot at a looming change to the law in Australia that will force it to share ad revenue with local media businesses.
\nStartups, funding and venture capital
\nDeepfake video app Reface is just getting started on shapeshifting selfie culture \u2014 Reface (previously Doublicat) is an app that uses AI-powered deepfake technology to let users try on another face\/form for size.
\nDST Global pumps $35 million into Asian e-grocer Weee! \u2014 The delightfully named startup delivers groceries, like fresh kimchi and Japanese desserts, to major cities across the U.S.
\nAmex acquires SoftBank-backed Kabbage after tough 2020 for the SMB lender \u2014 Amex\u2019s acquisition will include employees, technology and financial data, but \u201cKabbage\u2019s pre-existing loan portfolio is not included in the purchase agreement.\u201d
\nAdvice and analysis from Extra Crunch
\nFounders can raise funding before launching a product \u2014 I spoke to Precursor Ventures\u2019 Charles Hudson about how to pitch VCs before you\u2019ve built a real product.
\nRobinhood raises $200M more at $11.2B valuation as its revenue scales \u2014 Robinhood already raised capital multiple times this year, including an initial $280 million round at an $8.3 billion valuation, and a later $320 million addition that brought its valuation to $8.6 billion.
\nHow tech can build more resilient supply chains \u2014 Coatue\u2019s Caryn Marooney recently made the jump into venture capital.
\n(Reminder: Extra Crunch is our subscription membership program, which aims to democratize information about startups. You can sign up here.)
\nEverything else
\nSpaceX will attempt to break a rocket reusability record with a launch this week \u2014 SpaceX is preparing for yet another launch of Starlink satellites on Tuesday.
\nUS Commerce Department updates rules to further limit Huawei\u2019s chip access \u2014 The new restrictions follow a similar decree announced in May.
\nThe Daily Crunch is TechCrunch\u2019s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you\u2019d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 3pm Pacific, you can subscribe here.<\/p>\n