Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.

This is our Monday show, our short ramp into the week. Yes, it’s Monday again. No, you can’t stay in bed. Things are already happening!

• Take-Two is buying Zynga: In a cash and stock deal worth around $12.7 billion (enterprise value), the transaction has delighted Zynga shareholders and bummed out Take-Two’s own.
• Paytm is taking shots, as other 2021 IPOs slim down.
• The macro environment that startups exist in is about to change for the first time, from a monetary perspective.
• Pine Labs is looking to go public in the United States, China venture capital data is looking pretty strong, Assent Compliance raised a huge round, and Arive is apparently a thing.
• All that and we are just getting ready for earnings season, so stay hype as there is a lot of data coming in short order.

Welcome to the week! The Equity team is entirely back from vacation now, and we are ready to freaking rock this year. Let’s kick some ass!

After fitting some of its cars with comfy lounge chairs at CES 2020, BMW today unveiled the next step in its in-car entertainment story: a 31-inch 8K smart TV with support for Amazon’s Fire TV service (with a country-specific streaming service for China in the works, too). This new 32:9 “My Mode Theatre” screen for rear passengers, combined with a Bowers & Wilkins Diamond Surround Sound System, is meant to give passengers a cinema-like experience while they cruise down the highway.

With its 5G connection, the car will be able to stream the latest shows on demand, while BMW’s My Mode system will set the mood for binge-watching the latest episodes of The Expanse. For now, there isn’t a lot of 8K content to watch — and Fire TV doesn’t support it yet — but at least your car will be ready for it when that time comes.

Image Credits: BMW

And because you don’t always want a giant screen blocking your view, the screen is extended out of the headliner on request. The touch controls to do so are built into the rear doors.

“We develop immersive, digital experiences for sheer driving pleasure,” Frank Weber, member of the board of management of BMW AG Development, said in today’s announcement. “In Theatre Mode, the rear of the interior is transformed into a private cinema lounge. With the 31-inch display, 5G connectivity, 8K resolution, surround sound and individual streaming program, an unprecedented experience is created that sets new standards for in-car entertainment.”

To set the mood in the car, whether for movie watching or anything else, BMW’s latest iDrive displays and operating system these days feature My Mode, which changes the driving and transmission controls to change the car’s overall driving behavior, as well as the theme of the displays, sounds and overall lighting in the car based on your personal preferences.

Image Credits: BMW

Until now, the available modes were “Efficient,” “Sport” and “Personal,” but at CES today the company also introduced a few new variants: “Expressive,” “Relax,” “Digital Art” and — for watching movies — “Theatre.” These new modes will roll out in the second half of the year and for most of these new modes, we’re mostly talking about theming the car more than changing its driving characteristic.

For the digital art mode, BMW partnered with Chinese multimedia artist Cao Fei, who created new artwork for the launch that is meant to symbolize” the deep connection of humankind and nature.”

Image Credits: BMW

Meanwhile, for its sound design, BMW has once again partnered with film music composer Hans Zimmer to create specific sounds for its electric fleet. BMW IconicSounds Electric will make their debut in the BMW i4 in the first half of 2022 and the BMW iX in the second half of the year, and will be available as an over-the-air software update.

Image Credits: BMW

Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.

It’s the new year! Yes, welcome to 2022 from the Equity team. We hope that our holiday episodes kept you entertained, and warm. But it’s now back to work, so let’s get into the news:

• Global stocks are generally higher today, while cryptos are mostly flat. In the last week, major cryptocurrencies have lost value.
• Twitter banned Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene for “repeated violations of [its] COVID-19 misinformation policy.”
• India is investigating Apple’s payment system for iOS.
• Tesla Q4 deliveries came in above expectations, leading to the company’s stock surging in pre-market trading. NIO also saw a bump, which means that EV startups are also having a good day.
• The Sensetime IPO happened while Equity was on break. Despite raising far less than it had once wanted, the company’s Hong Kong IPO is now in the books, and doing well as a trading equity.
• And AIMMO raised $12 million in a Series A. The company provides data labeling tooling for enterprise customers building AI models.

Whoo! The year is underway! The great gears of work have once again begun to spin. Let’s get it!

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy.

The app industry continues to grow, with a record number of downloads and consumer spending across both the iOS and Google Play stores combined in 2021, according to the latest year-end reports. App Annie says global spending across iOS and Google Play is up to $135 billion in 2021, and that figure will likely be higher when its annual report, including third-party app stores in China, is released next year. Consumers also downloaded 10 billion more apps this year than in 2020, reaching nearly 140 billion in new installs, it found.

Apps aren’t just a way to pass idle hours — they’re also a big business. In 2019, mobile-first companies had a combined $544 billion valuation, 6.5x higher than those without a mobile focus. In 2020, investors poured $73 billion in capital into mobile companies — a figure that was up 27% year-over-year.

This Week in Apps offers a way to keep up with this fast-moving industry in one place with the latest from the world of apps, including news, updates, startup fundings, mergers and acquisitions, and suggestions about new apps and games to try, too.

Do you want This Week in Apps in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here: techcrunch.com/newsletters

This Week in Apps is taking a vacation over the holidays, so this week’s update is briefer than usual!

Top Story

900+ app publishers will see their first $1 million in 2021

Image Credits: Sensor Tower

Sensor Tower is forecasting that the number of publishers set to see their first $1 million (or more) in annual net income in 2021 has nearly doubled since 2016. This year, more than 900 publishers will reach this milestone, up nearly 91% from the 475 who hit the milestone in 2016. This 900+ breaks down to 581 on iOS and 325 on Google Play, it notes.

Image Credits: Sensor TowerBroken down by category, mobile game publishers continued to account for the largest percentage of iOS apps that hit the $1 million milestone in 2021, with a 32% share of the overall total. Social networking apps followed with an 11% share, then Entertainment, Health & Fitness and Productivity apps, at 7%, 7% and 6%, respectively. On Google Play, games also led but accounted for even more of the milestone-achieving apps, with a 43% share.

However, the figure represents a decline from last year, when 1,003 publishers hit their first net $1 million in global revenue — a change that Sensor Tower chalks up to a normalization of consumer behavior after the pandemic drove installs up during 2020 to outsized levels. Consumers in 2021 experimented with fewer new apps than during the height of the pandemic, the report noted.

Image Credits: Sensor Tower

China’s laws impact the number of available apps

The South China Morning Post this week reported on how China’s big tech crackdown is playing out across the Chinese app stores. According to its findings, the number of available mobile apps has fallen 40% over the past three years as new data laws and other clean-up campaigns went into effect. By the numbers, Chinese app stores had 4.52 million apps in December 2018, but as of October 2021, that had dropped to just 2.78 million. It also noted the biggest declines took place over the course of this year, as Beijing further cracked down on big tech with its new data privacy laws.

The Netherlands orders Apple to allow dating apps to offer alternative payments

The Netherlands is the latest country looking to regulate the app stores with a new ruling, as reported by Reuters, that says Apple has violated the country’s competition laws via its in-app purchase policies. However, the case in this market is unique because it’s only applying to a segment of the app store — specifically, dating apps. (Match, of course, has been a significant Apple critic and has been pushing for new payment policies both in the U.S. and abroad.) The Netherlands’ Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) says that Apple has until January 15 to implement App Store changes. If the company fails to comply, it could be fined up to €50 million ($56.6 million), the report notes. Apple has appealed the ruling.

Weekly News

Platforms: Apple

• An unconfirmed leak by a French site claims iOS 16 will not support the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus and the iPhone SE 2016.
• Apple stopped signing iOS 15.1.1, meaning there will be no more downgrading options available now.

Platforms: Google

• Google announced the number of users engaging with Android apps on Chrome OS devices was up 50% year-over-year in 2021, while Chrome OS grew over 92% YoY.
• Amazon finally fixed its broken Amazon Appstore on Android 12 devices, which had been preventing users from using its app — or apps installed via its app — for over a month.
• The Google Play Store added filters that let you narrow down searches by devices, like Android TV or Wear OS.

Social

Image Credits: Insider Intelligence

• A 2022 forecast notes TikTok is the world’s third-largest social network, on track for 755 million monthly users next year. This estimate comes from Insider Intelligence (formerly eMarketer), which uses its own system for counting MAUs to be more consistent across companies, while also weeding out fake accounts.
• TikTok will launch a delivery-only restaurant business across the U.S. in March to promote some of the most viral food dishes on its app, posted by TikTok influencers and creators. The company said it’s not going into the food business itself, but is partnering with Virtual Dining Concepts and Grubhub on the TikTok Kitchen promotion.

Messaging

Image Credits: Meta

• Facebook Messenger rolled out holiday features, including new AR effects from beauty influencers like Bretman Rock and Ashley Strong; plus holiday-themed word effects; a New Year’s Eve chat theme; various seasonal soundmojis, backgrounds and “gift wrap” on Messenger using Facebook Pay on Android. Messenger Kids is launching a Santa chat experience and other games and AR effects.
• WhatsApp is testing a new interface for voice calls and other features on iOS and Android. The site WABetaInfo spotted the new interface under development, which offers some UI tweaks and new indicators for end-to-end encryption.

Streaming & Entertainment

• TikTok is being accused of violating open source licenses in its new Live Studio Windows app. The app is allegedly using code from the Open Broadcaster Software project’s OBS Studio app and other open-source projects without following the licensing terms.
• The Verge wants to know what happened to Spotify HiFi? The high-end version of the streaming service was supposed to roll out this year, but never did. What gives?

Government & Policy

• Apple is seeking a dismissal of an India apps market antitrust case, citing its small market share in the country where the Android mobile OS is dominant.

Funding and M&A (and IPOs)

Zepto, a 10-minute grocery delivery app operating in India, raised $100 million in Series C funding, led by Y Combinator’s Continuity Fund. With the round, the app has now more than doubled its valuation to $570 million, up from $225 million in less than two months ago.

Rocket Companies, maker of Rocket Mortgage, acquired Truebill, a personal finance app that helps consumers manage their bills, subscriptions and budgets. The deal was for $1.275 billion, up from Truebill’s final private valuation of $530 million following its last round.

 Amsterdam-based tennis and padel court booking app Playtomic raised €56 million in Series C funding led by GP Bullhound after its monthly bookings surpassed 1 million in November 2021, up nearly 3x from a year ago. The app reaches 1+ million users across 34 countries.

Taptap Send raised $65 million in Series B funding led by Spark Capital to further grow its cross-border remittances app, which now covers 20 countries, including those in less developed markets.

Lapse, a Dispo-like app that lets users take photos that “develop” 24 hours later, raised $11 million in seed funding led by Octopus Ventures and GV.

Gaming company Rec Room raised $145 million in funding led by Coatue Management, for its cross-platform game that runs on mobile, PC, game consoles and VR headsets. The company has grown its user base from 2 million in March to now 37 million, and is valued at $3.5 billion.

Spotify acquired podcast tech company Whooshkaa, which turns radio programming into on-demand podcasts. The tech will be integrated with Spotify’s Megaphone.

Vietnam-based MoMo, a super app offering money transfers, insurance, investments, donations and more, raised $200 million in Series E funding led by Mizhuo Bank. The round values the business at $2+ billion.

Stockholm-based Voi, an app offering e-scooter and e-bike rentals, raised $115 million in Series D funding led by Raine Group and VNV Global. The company, which has scooters in 80 European cities, will next begin preparing for an IPO.

Triller, a one-time TikTok rival turned live events app, announced plans to merge with adtech company SeaChange to take the two companies public at a ~$5 billion valuation.

Indian e-commerce startup Snapdeal filed for an IPO, which seeks to raise $165 million. The 11-year-old company, which offers its services online and via app, competes with Amazon and Flipkart in India, and has shifted its focus in recent years to serve consumers in smaller towns and cities.

Downloads

Wombo Dream

Image Credits: Wombo

Known for an AI-powered lip-syncing app, Wombo’s latest app, Dream, is tapping into AI to create art. (Read TechCrunch’s review by Natasha Lomas here). To use the app, you type in what you want to create a picture of, then choose a style — like vibrant, pastel, dark fantasy, steampunk, etc. Dream will then spend a few seconds making the finished composition — some of which look better than others. You can repeat the process until it delivers a result you like. The app has already seen over 10 million images created by users and has been downloaded over 1 million times across iOS and Android.

The European e-scooter market is currently the main battleground for companies playing in the micro-mobility space, taking advantage as they are of Europe’s relatively compact cities and the desire of populations to move to more sustainable transportation. In 2021, players like Tier, Voi and Dott continued to raise VC backing.

But the war for funding is ultimately about who will win in this coveted market – either through market domination via raising the most capital, putting pressure on competitors, or by acquiring said competitors.

Thus, the latest chapter in this saga is about to play out, with the news that Voi Technology – a major European micromobility operator – has raised a $115 million Series D funding round in what it describes as oversubscribed financing round that, says the company, will power its expansion into new markets. Voi already has scooters in 70 cities across the U.K. and Europe. This round comes after it raised $45M in only August this year. Total capital raised in 2021 amounts to $160m, and $500m since Voi launched.

As well as expanding, this raise is also about a future IPO. A spokesperson said: “Following this fundraise, Voi is going to start preparing for an IPO. Voi will begin preparations but the timetable cannot be set in stone at this stage.”

Fredrik Hjelm, co-founder and CEO of Voi Technology, said in a statement: “There is no doubting that micromobility is here to stay and Voi intends to be the go-to mobility platform in Europe for cities that want to give their residents and visitors an integrated, smart mode way to travel. Working closely with cities we are seeing a new vision of urban transport taking shape that is highly complementary to public transport. We are building the future of transport and we are committed to making every Voi city a better place to live.”

With cities starting to adopt regulations and grant licenses, the way that micro mobility operators are scaling is by getting approvals from city officials, thus securing their access to consumers. So this war chest is in partly about being able to scale to meet those licenses.

The spokesperson added: “The demand for micro mobility has never been higher and as a result, we want to ensure we are delivering the service people need. With this funding, we’re going to invest in solutions for our rides and cities, including fixing parking, pavement riding and twin riding, rolling out a better model of e-scooter and investing in R&D.”

The round was led by Raine Group and VNV Global (which led the last funding round), and included Inbox Capital, Nordic Ninja, Stena Sessan, Kreos Capital and new investors Ilmarinen, Nineyards Equity and ICT Capital and others. Entrepreneurs and operators from King, Avito, BCG and more also participated.

Voi claims it has achieved a 140% year on year revenue growth in 2021, while increasing margins and profitability. Voi also won a lot of city tenders this year, putting pressure on competitors.

Of course, microbilitlity companies are also pushing at an open door, taking advantage of the news trend among cities to reduce the reliance on private cars, relieve congestion, lower carbon emission and cut pollution, as well as the individual desire to avoid crowds on public transport because of COVID-19.

Voi is also planning to launch the ‘Voiager 5’, which it claims will be the safest e-scooter model to date. Its arrival will be timely.

The potential for fires started by e-scooter battery packs was highlighted in the UK recently when Vio was forced to withdraw part of its fleet from rental after one its machines began burning in a user’s home.

Commenting, Jack Samler, General Manager at Voi UK, told TechCrunch:“We had an instance of smoke being emitted from one of our Long Term Rental e-scooters in Bristol earlier this month. This was an isolated, one-off, incident with one of our Long Term Rental scooters. As an extreme precautionary measure, we asked users to keep the scooters outside whilst we assessed the situation – all users have been refunded for the inconvenience for the month of December.”

He said the service was only temporarily stopped as a result of this smoking scooter, but following an investigation, the service quickly resumed: “The vast majority of users are already using the service again, and we expect all riders to continue enjoying our Long Term Rental service to move around in a sustainable manner very soon.”

Assuming all those batteries get safer, Voi is also committing to use only battery cells produced in Europe, with a resulting 50% lower carbon footprint given they wouldn’t be imported from China, by early 2023. It already sources its e-bikes from Europe.

Jason Schretter, Partner and Head of EMEA at Raine Group, said:  “We are excited to continue our support of Voi in its efforts to bring safe and sustainable micro mobility solutions to markets across Europe.  Since we first invested a year ago, Voi’s commitment to product innovation, operational efficiency and local partnerships have helped the company extend its leadership position in the region.”  

Per Brilioth, CEO of VNV Global said: “We are reaching a tipping point with micro-mobility where cities, led by their residents, are waking up to the full potential of this new mode of transport.”

Meanwhile, the European e-scooter race continues apace. Tier, a Berlin-based e-scooter company that’s quickly expanding throughout Europe, recently acquired Vento Mobility, the Italian subsidiary of Wind Mobility.

But scooter companies continue to battle the bad publicity from the grisly accidents and crashes currently blighting the image of this, admittedly hot, sector.

With supply chains in the automotive industry continuing to be disrupted due to Covid-19, demand has surged in the used-car market. Today, one of the startups that’s seeing a lot of growth as a result of that is announcing a big round of funding to further tap the opportunity.

Cars24, a startup out of India that has built an app and website for selling used cars and motorbikes, has raised $400 million: a Series G of $300 million in equity and a further $100 million in debt. The fundraise is coming just three months after Cars24 last closed a round — $450 million, with $340 million as a Series F and a further $110 million in debt — and as a mark of how heated the market is right now, Cars24’s valuation has nearly doubled in that short time: it’s now $3.3 billion, versus $1.84 billion three months ago.

Alpha Wave Global (which co-led the last round under its previous brand, Falcon Edge Capital) is leading this Series G, with participation from other existing investors. Cars24 is not disclosing who those investors are, but other backers include DST Global, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Alibaba, Tencent, Moore Strategic Ventures, Exor Seeds, Raptor Group and around 20 others.

Cars24 claims to have a 90% share of India’s used-car market, and it’s gotten there by way of technology. Its tools include a search engine for people to find vehicles (its wide inventory being one of the main unique selling points versus physical used-car lots); options for financing for the vehicle; and logistics software to subsequently organize and carry out vehicle deliveries to new owners. It also has built analytics to measure demand and calibrate pricing and make online assessments of vehicles. Cars24 currently has some 13 million monthly visitors to its site and has sold over 400,000 vehicles (both cars and motorbikes) to date.

Cars24 is not only on a scaling, but also a funding, tear: it additionally raised $200 million last December, putting the total raised in the last year to about $840 million. (And rumors of this latest round were circulating a couple of weeks ago.) It’s not the only one: a month ago, Spinny, another startup in the used-car space raised $280 million.

While Cars24 plans to work on increasing new customers against rival services, it will also be investing in more hooks to extend its engagement with those already using Cars24. These will include more financing options and centers for servicing vehicles before and after purchase. It will also be continuing to add more countries to its international footprint, with its next launches expected in Southeast Asia.

“The primary use of the funding will be to continue to strengthen our presence in India, and in the countries where we have expanded,” said Gajendra Jangid, Cars24’s CMO, who co-founded the company with Vikram Chopra (the CEO), Mehul Agrawal and Ruchit Agarwal in Gurugram in 2015. Cars24 is active in some 200 cities in India, and it claims to have grown 50% in the last quarter, a record for the company.

A number of outsized startups have emerged in India with massive coffers of funding to grow domestically, with little in the way of international strategy. And with nearly 1.4 billion people, the world’s second most populous country after China, you can see why. Cars24, however, has followed a different playbook, exporting its model to several countries in the last year, starting with the UAE (July 2021), and then Australia and Thailand (both in October). It plans to add to that list with its next markets in Southeast Asia, Jangid confirmed.

Launching in more developed markets like Australia and UAE has seen Cars24 adjusting its approach based on different market factors, he added.

“In Australia and the Emirates, it’s been about getting a good global supply of cars,” he said. “Because it’s hard to get new cars right now, that’s impacting pricing and demand for used vehicles.”

In its home market of India, car ownership still lingers in the single-percentage digits — somewhere between 2% and 3%, according to estimates — so in that regard, the only way is up. Indeed, as one of the most populated markets, which is rapidly developing, and which has jumped in with both feet into digital services and mobile apps, India represents a giant amount of potential that Cars24 is hoping to tap.

While Cars24 will continue to focus on bringing on new users, it’s also investing in infrastructure to extend how it works with those who are shopping on its platform. It has built out seven so-called Mega Refurbishment Labs around the country to assess and fix up cars destined for its platform. Sitting as a complement to the company’s otherwise all-digital approach to sourcing and selling vehicles, Jangid said the idea will be to make these labs a part of how the company also provides after-care to those who have purchased vehicles with the company. Longer term, he said, these would open up to all car owners. The company is also starting to build labs in other parts of the world to extend the proposition, with the first opening in Dubai.

The other area where the company is expanding its services is in the area of finance. Jangid said. He said Cars24 was the only player in its category with a banking license and it’s been using that to create payment schemes for customers. LIke car ownership itself, this represents another area of currently-underserved opportunity.

“Less than 20% of used cars get financed, while more than 80% of new cars sold are financed, so you can see the huge gap,” Jangid said. He said that currently, more than 50% of its customer base is financing vehicle purchases by way of Cars24.

It’s not all smooth sailing for the company. Working in used vehicles, there are a number of inconsistencies in product, and the more Cars24 scales the harder it will be to ensure a consistent customer experience around that, too. We’ve seen other used-car startups crash over similar issues, so it will be worth watching whether Cars24 manages to navigate these challenges as it scales. It’s one area where building out the physical servicing centers might help.

“We are excited to back Cars24 yet again as they continue to cement their leadership positions across India, UAE, Australia and other international markets,” said Navroz D. Udwadia, co-founder and partner of Alpha Wave, in a statement. “CARS24’s robust competitive moats across in-house reconditioning, access to the widest assortment/supply and deep data science drive a delightful customer experience, and reflects in its best-in-class NPS. We believe this investment will help CARS24 fortify its moats even further and scale 10x from here over the next few years. We remain impressed by the team’s vision and execution, and are delighted to deepen our partnership with CARS24.”

Investment from VC and PE into climate tech is booming, reaching $87.5bn over H2 2020 and H1 2021, with in excess of $60bn in the first half of 2021 alone, according to a new report from PWC.

This is a 210% increase from the $28.4bn invested in the 12 months prior. Some 14¢ of every dollar of VC now going to climate tech.

However, not all is rosy. The investment is mostly focused on technology solutions accounting for 20% of emissions reduction potential. So PWC says there is an opportunity to shift the focus to areas and technologies with a more direct impact on emissions.

And despite this overall growth, the number of early VC, seed, and Series A investments in climate tech has remained largely stagnant since 2018.

Of 15 solutions analyzed, the top five, representing more than 80% of emissions reduction potential by 2050, received just 25% of the climate tech investment between 2013 and H1 2021.  

In other words, VC needs to put more into directly affecting emission, not just SaaS platforms etc which track them.

Emma Cox, Global Climate Leader, PwC UK, said: “The world has 10 years to halve global greenhouse emissions if we are to have hope of achieving net-zero by 2050… However, our research has found there is potential to better channel and incentivize investment in technology areas that have the greatest future emissions reduction potential. This raises the question of why these sectors are missing out – are investors missing a valuable opportunity or is there an incentive problem that needs the attention of policymakers?”

Climate tech encompasses technologies focused on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.  Climate tech investment plateaued in 2018-2020, but has rebounded in the first half of 2021 driven by a refreshed focus on ESG in private markets, emerging regulations and standards, and more companies committing to net-zero strategies.

Here are some extracts from PWC’s report:

• The average climate tech deal size nearly quadrupled in H1 2021 to US$96M, from US$27M one year prior. 

• About 1,600 investors were active in H1 2021, compared to fewer than 900 active investors in H1 2020 as the wider investment community becomes familiar with the opportunities in climate tech as an asset class.

• SPACs (special purpose acquisition companies) were tested to further stimulate climate tech’s growth and raised US$25bn in H1 2021, accounting for more than a third of all funding.

• Mobility and Transport continues to receive the lion’s share of climate tech funding as electric vehicles (EVs), micro-mobility and other innovative transit models attract investor attention.  This challenge area raised nearlyUS$58bn between H2 2020 and H1 2021, representing two-thirds of total climate tech funding raised in the period.

• Mobility and Transport, Industry, Manufacturing and Resource management (IM&R) and Financial Services saw the fastest growth year over year between H2 2019 – H1 2021, each more than 260%, reaching US$58bn, US$6.9bn and US$1.2bn respectively. 

• The top five technologies representing over 80% of future emissions reduction potential include: Solar Power, Wind Power, Food Waste Technology, Green Hydrogen Production, and Alternative Foods/Low GHG Proteins.


PWC said the United States leads in climate tech investing, attracting nearly 65% of VC investment, $56.6bn from H2 2020 to H1 2021. China is estimated to have seen $9bn in climate tech investment in the same period, while Europe totaled $18.3bn, driven by a nearly 500% (494%) increase in Mobility and Transport in H2 2020 and H1 2021, compared to the prior 12 month period.

The US government will place eight Chinese companies including drone manufacturer DJI on an investment blocklist for alleged involvement in surveillance of Uyghur Muslims, the Financial Times has reported. The firms will reportedly be put on the Treasure department’s “Chinese military-industrial complex companies” list on Tuesday, meaning US citizens will be barred from making any investments.

DJI is already on the Department of Commerce’s Entity list, meaning American companies can’t sell it components unless they have a license. At the time, the government said it was among companies that “enabled wide-scale human rights abuses within China through abusive genetic collection and analysis or high-technology surveillance.” However, unlike products from Huawei and others, DJI drones are have not been banned for sale in the US.

The US government will place eight Chinese companies including drone manufacturer DJI on an investment blocklist for alleged involvement in surveillance of Uyghur Muslims, the Financial Times has reported. The firms will reportedly be put on the Treasure department’s “Chinese military-industrial complex companies” list on Tuesday, meaning US citizens will be barred from making any investments.

DJI is already on the Department of Commerce’s Entity list, meaning American companies can’t sell it components unless they have a license. At the time, the government said it was among companies that “enabled wide-scale human rights abuses within China through abusive genetic collection and analysis or high-technology surveillance.” However, unlike products from Huawei and others, DJI drones are have not been banned for sale in the US.

The app economy will again set new records in 2021. According to a review of the global app ecosystem in 2021 by Sensor Tower, released today, first-time app installs grew to 143.6 billion during the year, a half percentage point higher than 2020, but consumer spending in apps is up a much larger 19.7% year-over-year to reach $133 billion. This includes spending on in-app purchases, premium apps, and subscriptions across both the Apple App Store and Google Play, but excludes third-party app stores, like those in China.

Image Credits: Sensor Tower

This growth is nearly in line with the growth seen in 2020 saw when consumer spending jumped 21% to reach $111.1 billion, Sensor Tower noted.

That the growth continued along the same lines this year is notable because, of course, 2020 had seen the world grappling with the immediate impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic which forced consumers to work from home, shop online, virtually connect with friends, stream more entertainment content, and attend classes online, amid other behavioral shifts. These changes had played out in terms of consumer app usage and spending in 2020. Global app revenue had rocketed to $50 billion during the first half of 2020, in part due to how the pandemic was impacting the world of mobile apps, TechCrunch had reported at the time.

Image Credits: Sensor Tower

There were some early signals that these pandemic-driven shifts in consumer spending would outlast the Covid-19 government lockdowns seen in 2020 to continue to impact 2021 mobile trends. In the U.S., for example, consumer spending on iPhone apps was on track to reach an average of $180 in 2021, up from $136 last year, the firm had also said. It ended up at $165, we’re told, however. And consumer spending during the first half of 2021 was already hitting new records, with a global total of $64.9 billion.

Today, Sensor Tower reports the record $133 billion in global spend includes $85.1 billion in App Store spending, up 17.7% year-over-year from the $72.3 billion spent in 2020. It also includes $47.9 billion in Google Play consumer spend, up 23.5% from the $38.8 billion spent in 2020. The App Store continues to outpace Google Play with around 1.8 times the revenue, which is in line with previous years.

Outside of games, the app to pull in the most global revenue in 2021 was TikTok, including its Chinese counterpart, Douyin. Combined, the different iterations of ByteDance’s short-form video app passed $2 billion in revenue during the first 11 months of 2021, and is on track to reach $2.3 billion by year-end. That will bring its lifetime total to $3.8 billion.

The app also topped App Store’s charts in terms of global spending, but on Google Play, TikTok was only the No. 4 app by consumer spending. Google’s own Google One subscription was No. 1. By the end of this year, Google One will reach $1 billion in consumer spending, up 123% from $448.5 million in 2020.

Image Credits: Sensor Tower

Meanwhile, global app downloads are beginning to plateau. While overall, the figures inched up 0.5% percent year-over-year from 142.9 billion in 2020 to 143.6 billion, this was mainly due to growth in Android app downloads on Google Play. Installs there grew 2.6% year-over-year to reach 111.3 billion, up from 108.5 billion in 2020.

But Apple’s App Store saw new app installs drop. This year, downloads will have declined 6.1% from 34.4 billion in 2020 to 32.3 billion, Sensor Tower estimates.

TikTok remained the most-downloaded app with 745.9 million global installs, despite a drop from the 980.7 million installs it saw in 2020. (Apple had also recently confirmed TikTok was the top U.S. download of the year on its Free iPhone Apps chart, for what it’s worth.) On Google Play, Facebook topped the charts with 500.9 million installs, demonstrating the social networking app’s ability to gain traction in a number of emerging markets where Android is more popular. But across both app stores, Facebook will see 624.9 million installs in 2021, down 12% year-over-year from 707.8 million in 2020.

Image Credits: Sensor Tower

Mobile games continue to pull in the lions’ share of global app revenue, as in previous years. In 2021, mobile game spending will reach $89.6 billion across the App Store and Google Play, up 12.6% year-over-year from the $79.6 billion spent in 2020.

But in an ongoing trend, gaming’s slice of the overall pie is shrinking. In 2019, games accounted for 74.1% of all app spending, which dropped to 71.7% in 2020. This year, they’ve fallen again, representing just 67.4% of all in-app spending. This shift is due to the rise of subscription-based apps outside of games, and this year, particularly the growth in streaming and Entertainment apps, which have financially benefitted from the pandemic.

Image Credits: Sensor Tower

On the App Store, games will account for $52.3 billion in consumer spending this year, up 9.9% from 2020. The gaming market on iOS is led by Tencent’s Honor of Kings, which generated $2.9 billion on iOS, up 16% from the $2.5 billion it saw last year.

On Google Play, the highest-grossing title is again Moon Active’s Coin Master, up 13% year-over-year to reach nearly $912 million. Overall, games on Google Play will generate $37.3 billion in global spending, up 16.6% year-over-year from $32 billion in 2020.

Image Credits: Sensor Tower

Game installs, like the rest of mobile app installs, declined year-over-year on the App Store, going from 10.1 billion in 2020 to 8.6 billion this year. PUBG Mobile, including the Chinese version Game of Peace, grabbed the most downloads (47.5 million). On Google Play, game installs grew 1.3% from 46.1 billion last year to 46.7 billion this year, with Garena Free Fire pulling in the most downloads (218.8 million).

To some extent, this year’s trends saw a bit of normalization after an unusual burst of activity in 2020. But other trends have remained the same — like the shrinking slice of consumer spend attributed to games, for instance, or how Android continually beats iOS on downloads but not on revenue.

Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.

Despite the advanced week, news is still coming in in hot and heavy, so strap in for today’s busy episode:

• Cryptos have failed to recover from their weekend swoon, leading to most major crypto assets suffering from a double-digit decline in their value over the last week.
• Sensetime’s Hong Kong IPO is set to raise less money than the AI company had hoped.
• BitMart got hacked, showing that even this deep into the crypto era we are still seeing embarrassing security lapses that deliver material consumer pain.
• Alibaba is reshuffling its leadership, though we are not sure at this juncture what the changes mean. Not to get speculative, but we’re keeping an eye on the new leadership.
• A number of investors are considering pouring capital into Polygon, TradeDepot raised $110 million, and Stacked raised $35 million for its crypto-investing system.

I would normally say that it’s a holiday week, so let’s relax, but instead I wonder if we’re going to see a final push of news this week before things do calm down for the holiday period.

Didi’s U.S. IPO is one of several key moments of the recent regulatory shift inside China regarding its leading technology companies. The other is Ant’s IPO that never happened, pulled in the wake of criticisms of the Chinese government’s handling of newer technologies by the previously prominent Alibaba founder Jack Ma.

It’s been a busy year for changes to how the autocratic Chinese government handles its economy. From a larger crackdown on technology firms to new rules regarding youth video game playing, a shellacking of the for-profit edtech sector, and changes to how fintech can operate, watching China from a tech perspective this year has proved hectic.

The Exchange explores startups, markets and money.

Read it every morning on TechCrunch+ or get The Exchange newsletter every Saturday.

Even though it’s the first of December, we may not be done yet with this year’s changes.

Bloomberg reports that China is considering removing the VIE loophole that allowed Chinese companies to list in the United States, closing a method by which local companies could access foreign capital.

VIEs, or variable-interest entities, are complex. But legal group Winston & Strawn has a good summary of why they matter, which will do for our purposes. Per the law firm, VIEs are “commonly used in China to allow foreign investors to participate in industries that are explicitly or practically restricted from foreign investment.”

VIEs don’t grant ownership of the underlying asset as we might normally understand it. Instead, they can help get around Chinese laws concerning foreign ownership of companies in select industries. How do they do that? By using an offshore company setup to collect “a claim on the profits and control of the assets that belong” to the actual company in China, GCI Investors explains. That’s where the interest part of VIE comes into play.

VIEs are how Tencent, Didi and others went public in the United States. Not by listing their main corporate bulk, but instead by dodging domestic rules, creating a puppet entity, and selling Americans stock in that corporate bridge. Not what you expected? Did you think that your Alibaba holding was in the actual company? Well, bad news.

The model was always risky as heck, but tolerated because folks wanted to buy shares of Alibaba, as well as the general risk-on climate of the last few years. But now the Chinese Communist Party is considering doing away with the side-step of its own rules.