The coronavirus outbreak has left India’s startups and small businesses jittery about their future.
As much as 61% startups and small & medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country are staring at the possibility of scaling down their business in the next six months. Only 13% are expecting their business to grow, according to a survey conducted between April 18 and 23 by LocalCircles, a community-led social media engagement platform.
Some will emerge from this crisis disrupted and shaken, but ultimately stable. Others will come out of it with much more lasting scars.
Viruses aren’t picky. They tear through neighborhoods and nations, infecting whomever they can, and the new coronavirus is no exception: The pain of the present pandemic will be felt—is already being felt—by just about everyone in the United States and all over the world, in one way or another. After the pandemic has run its course, no one will be wholly untouched.
At the same time, there will be stark disparities in how certain segments of the American population experience this crisis. Some of these disparities will be the result of luck or coincidence—a matter of where someone happened to travel, what line of work they chose, or what city they live in. But in a country that was highly unequal in so many ways well before it had a confirmed case of COVID-19, other disparities will be sadly predictable, falling along racial and class lines, as well as other fateful divides.
In the coming months and years, there will really be two pandemics in America. One will be disruptive and frightening to its victims, but thanks to their existing advantages and lucky near misses with the virus, they will likely emerge from it relatively stable—physically, psychologically, and financially. The other pandemic, though, will devastate those who survive it, leaving lasting scars and altering life courses.
Continue reading… “The pandemic will cleave America in two”
The NBA, NFL and MLB are dreaming up ways to play amid a pandemic, with talk of isolating players in Arizona or Las Vegas or maybe on the moon. It all sounds great, until you talk to people who actually know science.
The proposals multiply almost as fast as the coronavirus: The NHL can play in North Dakota! The NBA can play on a cruise ship! MLB can play in a biodome! The NFL can play in its stadiums, with 70,000 fans packed in!
These are fun thought experiments, at least as good a way to spend time in isolation as watching Tiger King. And everyone wants to believe we will be buying peanuts and Cracker Jack this summer. But fans deserve a reality check: According to the experts—medical experts, not the money-making experts in league offices—we will not have sports any time soon. And when we do, we will not attend the games.
Continue reading… “Bursting the bubble : Why sports aren’t coming back soon”
Domio, a startup that offers short-term rentals, has its headquarters in a New York City loft that features beer on tap, a game room and a wall of house slippers for visitors. The fast-growing and unprofitable company has raised $117 million in venture capital, including $100 million in August.
When the coronavirus pandemic caused Domio’s bookings to dry up last month, it laid off staff but did not ask its investors for more funding. Jay Roberts, Domio’s chief executive, said it had no immediate need to raise more money and most likely had enough cash to last until 2021.
Instead, Domio applied for a federal loan under the Paycheck Protection Program, the $349 billion plan to save jobs at small businesses during the outbreak. It received a loan on April 13. Three days later, the program’s funding ran out, even as hundreds of hard-hit restaurants, hair salons and shops around the country missed out on the relief.
Questions about whether the funds were disbursed fairly and whether some applicants deserved them have drawn scrutiny to the aid program. Several companies that got millions of dollars in loans, such as the Shake Shack and Kura Sushi restaurant chains, faced criticism and eventually gave the money back. On Friday, President Donald Trump signed legislation approving a fresh $320 billion to replenish the program, which the Small Business Administration is directing.
Now, scrutiny of the program has reached technology startups like Domio. While many of these young companies have been hurt by the pandemic, they are not ailing in the same way that traditional small businesses are. Many mom-and-pop enterprises, which tend to employ hourly workers and operate on razor-thin margins, are shutting down immediately because of economic pain or begging for donations via GoFundMe campaigns.
Continue reading… “Start-ups pursue ‘free money’ with relief funds, prompting backlash”
US coronavirus deaths pass 14,000, but future projections are better than expected
(CNN)Even though the coronavirus pandemic continues to take lives across the United States, Covid-19 has not become the leading cause of death in the nation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed to CNN.
“There are no data to support that theory,” Jeff Lancashire, a spokesperson for the National Center for Health Statistics, said in an email on Friday.
False claims declaring that coronavirus has become the leading cause of death in the US have swirled as the US leads the world in coronavirus cases. Those claims are made by some experts comparing how many people die of coronavirus daily with the estimate of how many people may die daily on average of each leading cause of death, using CDC data.
Continue reading… “No, the coronavirus is not the leading cause of death in the US, CDC says”
Some businesses that want to stay open say it’s hard to do so when employees can make more money by staying home.
$600 per week.
That’s what the federal government is now offering to people who’ve lost their jobs because of the coronavirus.
For many workers and employers, that money is a godsend — a way to keep food on the table while also cutting payroll costs.
But the extra money can create some awkward situations. Some businesses that want to keep their doors open say it’s hard to do so when employees can make more money by staying home.
“We basically have this situation where it would be a logical choice for a lot of people to be unemployed,” said Sky Marietta, who opened a coffee shop along with her husband, Geoff, last year in Harlan, Ky.
“COVID-19 has had a substantial financial impact on the tourism industry, and destination organizations have responded quickly by deferring marketing funds in a responsible manner,” said Craig Compagnone, chief operating officer, MMGY Global commenting on the results of a recent meetings industry survey.
MMGY Travel Intelligence, in partnership with Destinations International Foundation, has released the findings from the third wave of a series of bi-weekly tracking surveys of North American destination professionals. The surveys assess how this sector has been affected by COVID-19 and what shifts organizations are making during a period of very fluid change. The latest findings reveal that while almost the entire sector (95 percent) has moved to reduce or postpone paid promotional advertising, and 80 percent have shifted sales, marketing or messaging, half of destination organizations expect to return to several forms of paid promotional advertising within the next 60 days.
“However, search data is telling us that there is still a strong desire to travel, and we believe this pent-up demand will result in a high volume of shorter booking window trips when bans are lifted and consumers believe it is safe to get out and explore again,” added Compagnone.
Continue reading… “Meetings industry survey : Re-engagement expected by June”
US neobank Chime is running a pilot in which it gives customers their $1,200 federal stimulus checks before the government begins disbursing the payments, CNBC reports.
The neobank selected 1,000 customers who received their payments instantly on Thursday through Chime’s SpotMe feature, which usually acts as an overdraft protection feature, allowing customers to go negative in their accounts without having to pay an overdraft fee.
Chime is using its own capital to front the money to customers until the government pays out the checks, and CEO Chris Britt told CNBC that he is waiting for reassurance from the government that Chime users can’t redirect stimulus payments to other bank accounts before expanding the pilot to other users. Eligible users will largely be those who direct deposit paychecks into their Chime accounts and have previously had their tax refunds deposited into their Chime accounts as well.
Continue reading… “Chime is piloting instant stimulus check disbursals”
Most Consumers Believe They’ll Prefer Riding In Self Driving Cars In Ten Years
Autonomous vehicle startups Beep and Navya are using four driverless shuttles to transport coronavirus tests around the Mayo Clinic campus in Jacksonville, Florida.
Because the routes are isolated from public traffic, the shuttles can be operated without a human safety driver, which limits human exposure to the lab samples. Though even the most advanced self-driving companies require much more testing before the technology can be scaled, this example from Beep and Navya highlights a near-term upside of autonomous vehicles: minimizing human-to-human contact.
Colleges across the nation are scrambling to close deep budget holes and some have been pushed to the brink of collapse after the coronavirus outbreak triggered financial losses that could total more than $100 million at some institutions.
Scores of colleges say they’re taking heavy hits as they refund money to students for housing, dining and parking after campuses closed last month. Many schools are losing millions more in ticket sales after athletic seasons were cut short, and some say huge shares of their reserves have been wiped out amid wild swings in the stock market.
Yet college leaders say that’s only the start of their troubles: Even if campuses reopen this fall, many worry large numbers of students won’t return. There’s widespread fear that an economic downturn will leave many Americans unable to afford tuition, and universities are forecasting steep drop-offs among international students who may think twice about studying abroad so soon after a pandemic.
Continue reading… “Financial hits pile up for colleges as some fight to survive”
A man in Bologna, Italy, chats online with his grandparents on March 19. A nationwide lockdown to control the spread of COVID-19 has been extended to at least Easter.
People in the United States and around the world are turning to the internet to do their work and stay connected with others as the COVID-19 outbreak forces people to stay home and away from the office and crowds. A median of 77% across 34 countries use the internet at least occasionally or own an internet-enabled smartphone, according to a spring 2019 Pew Research Center survey. But there are stark digital divides. Younger people, those with higher incomes and those in wealthier countries are more likely to be digital technology users. Many people surveyed also use social media, but social media usage is not ubiquitous, even in economically advanced nations like Germany and Japan.
Here are eight charts on digital connectivity worldwide.
Continue reading… “8 charts on internet use around the world as countries grapple with COVID-19”
Major sports broadcasters are leaning into eSports to fill the programming gaps left from leagues canceling professional sports games because of coronavirus.
The state of play: ESPN on Sunday aired 12 hours of esports including Rocket League, NBA 2K, and Madden.
Fox Sports aired its first Madden esports tournament last week after agreeing on a broadcast deal with the NFL.
Be smart: Without live sports, the players themselves are looking to eSports to stay connected to fans.
Some athletes, like NBA star Kevin Durant, are using eSports tournaments to raise money for charity. A few tournaments will be used to fund coronavirus relief efforts.
Continue reading… “eSports surge as professional sports get canceled”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.