It was another busy week of investments, acquisitions and hot takes in the San Francisco tech space. Here are some of the local stories you might have missed:
Hair love: Alexis Ohanian’s Initialized Capital just invested $1 million in Naza Beauty, a new haircare startup based out of San Francisco and headed up by founder and CEO Natanya Montgomery. The startup is described, essentially, as Drybar for women of color. [TechCrunch]
Sip on this: San Francisco startup Endless West — which previously won praise for its synthetic, er, molecular whiskey — just came out with its two newest offerings: synthetic wine and sake. The products don’t contain any grapes or rice, and are said to require less land or water to produce than their traditional counterparts. But, we wonder, how do they taste? [SF Chronicle]
Coronavirus fears: As the number of coronavirus cases continues to climb worldwide, concerns related to the outbreak are also having an impact on the local tech scene. Verizon and AT&T were among 14 companies that have pulled out of this week’s RSA cyber conference in S.F. due to coronavirus-related fears, while Facebook has opted not to attend next month’s Game Developers Conference for similar reasons. [Reuters]
Online security top of mind: With more and more companies relying on remote workers and flexible working arrangements, data protection and online security apps are increasingly top of mind for the industry. We talked to organization leaders at Okta and Snowflake about this trend. [Built In SF]
The perfect jeans: SF-based Unspun is trying to make fashion more environmentally friendly, specifically with the help of 3D body scanning software. The idea: If the jeans fit perfectly the first time, they won’t have to be returned through the mail, thus reducing the amount of carbon emissions produced by the online shopping experience. [Built In SF]
‘No one is allowed to tweet:’ SF-based attorney Monica Mazzei was among the family law specialists who just shed light on the apparent trend of Millennials in tech seeking prenups at a higher rate than previous generations. Some of these arrangements even include detailed policies on social media postings should the marriage come to an end. [Protocol]
NBA to VC: Three-time NBA champ Andre Iguodala has funded over 40 companies, including Zoom and Allbirds, and earlier this month he became a venture partner for Comcast’s Catalyst Fund. The fund provides early stage investments to help propel companies led by black, Latinx and women founders. In this new interview, Iguodala described how lessons he learned on the court also apply to his work in VC. [Crunchbase News]
Inside Twitter HQ: We recently got an office tour of the headquarters of Twitter in the city’s Civic Center neighborhood. The office houses about 2,500 employees and features a rooftop deck for catching rays and an entire lodge the company shipped from Montana for kicking back. [Built In SF]
