Together with

Gm. The coolest part of writing Homescreen is knowing that 15,465 great founders are on the other side of the screen.

Thats a lot of valuable eyeballs (30,930 to be specific) reading our words every week.

If you’re interested in getting some of those eyeballs pointed your way, fill out this sponsorship interest form.

FRESH POWDER

Looking at three funds that recently topped up their coffers.

EARNINGS

Your Uber is 5 mins away from profitability

If Uber’s earnings yesterday taught us two things it's that 1) the world needs more public transportation and 2) the ride-sharing giant may have finally turned a corner when it comes to making money. Uber generated a record $382 million in free cash flow in Q2 proving that the company that has raised $25 billion over the course of its lifetime may finally be able to survive on its own without outside funding.

But, free cash flow ≠ profitability

While its strong earnings sent the stock flying nearly 20%, Uber is still a few surge rides away from profitability. It wasn’t a sudden affinity for taxi drivers that led to another deeply unprofitable quarter. Instead, it was a series of terrible investments in other ride-sharing companies that contributed to its $2.6 billion net loss.

• In Q2, Uber reported losses of $1.1 billion from its investment in autonomous ride-sharing company Aurora, a $520 million loss from its stake in Singaporean delivery app Grab, and a $245 million loss from Indian food delivery firm Zomato.

Ill-fated investments aside, Uber is looking a lot like its old self. While Uber Eats gracefully stepped up during the pandemic to drive growth as ride-hailing stalled, the roles have once again flipped. Uber’s ride-share business jumped 120% last quarter to pull almost level with Eats in terms of gross bookings. One major factor in the rebound?

The return of Uber drivers

The number of Uber drivers and delivery couriers reached 5 million last quarter, a new record for the company and a gain of nearly 31% from last year. Over 70% of new drivers who signed up in the quarter cited a higher cost of living as a reason for becoming a driver, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told analysts. Turns out inflation stings a little less when you’re making an average of $37 an hour.

Bottom line: So many aspects of the broader economy—gas prices, inflation, gig work, travel, food—are reflected in Uber’s business, so to see it notch a solid quarter is a good sign.

ACCELERATORS

Y Combinator scales down

After steadily inviting more and more startups to join its cohorts, YC slapped the brakes on. The current Summer Cohort is populated by just 250 companies, down 40% from the previous cohort, which accepted 414.

Sign of the times?

A YC spokesperson told the Information that it reduced its batch size due to macroeconomic conditions and the “realities of being back in person.” But the reduction also comes on the heels of widespread criticism that bigger batches were diluting the value of YC.

• YC isn’t worried: A spokesperson told the tech blog Newcomer that it sees 1,000-startup batches in its future.

Zoom out: Investment in US startups dropped 23% YoY in the second quarter which means graduates of YC are stepping into a much different fundraising environment than their predecessors. The smaller batch may seem like a negative signal to investors, but will likely end up as a blessing in disguise when graduates have less competition for funding come Demo Day.

TOGETHER WITH STYTCH

The world if passwords no longer existed

One day we’ll get there…but today is not that day.

That’s where Stytch comes in.

It’s laser-focused on eliminating friction on the internet by offering the best (and most secure) authentication solutions.

We’re talking one-tap social logins, biometrics, magic links…heck, even crypto wallet logins.

Plus, Stytch makes it seamless to integrate their solutions into your website or app so you can focus on product, not authentication.

Consider Stytch the bridge to a passwordless future. Try it here.

QUICK HITS

Seed Round

Stat: SoftBank CEO Masa Son has embraced the “spray and pray” approach to investing. New data from the WSJ indicates that Vision Fund 2 invested in a startup every other day, a faster pace than Vision Fund 1 which was nearly double its size. In total, Softbank plowed $38 billion into more than 180 companies last year, many of which have been written down recently. It’s nothing new for Masa and co who have a habit of dumping all their cash into the market at the absolute peak. So far the strategy hasn’t been working: Softbank reported losses of $22 billion on Vision Fund’s 1 and 2 last quarter.

Story we’re watching: Only three things in life are certain: death, taxes, and crypto bridges getting hacked. Another token-swapping platform, Nomad, was drained of almost $200 million on Monday after multiple users discovered a vulnerability in the code that allowed bots to withdraw more assets than were deposited on the platform. It’s a far too familiar story—over $1 billion in crypto has been purloined through bridge exploits so far this year, including the $600 million Ronin heist in April as well as the $325 million Wormhole exploit in February.

Rabbit hole: Is Scott Galloway the Howard Stern of the business world? (NYT)

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON

• Sheryl Sandberg officially stepped down as Meta’s COO on Monday.

• Instagram head Adam Mosseri is moving from SF to London to assist Meta’s creator team as it challenges TikTok.

• Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan yesterday, making her the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the island since 1997.

• Shopify made a $100 million strategic investment in marketing automation startup Klaviyo.

• Solana wallets are facing an on-going exploit with over $5 million stolen so far.

THREE LIES AND A HEADLINE

Can you sniff out which three news stories are fake headlines from The Onion and which is actually real?

A. “Late-To-The-Game tech CEO has only bananas, toilet paper, or horse farming left to revolutionize”

B. “CDC issues emergency authorization for local man to go shirtless during heat wave.”

C. “Skittles lawsuit claims candy ‘unfit for human consumption’”

D. “Cat food-inspired cuisine served at West Village pop-up”

LAYOFFS TRACKER

Notable layoffs this week:

Robinhood: 929 people (23%)

AllSet: 29 people (30%)

Outreach: 75 people (5%)

FOUNDERS CORNER

The best resources we came across that will help you become a better founder, builder, or investor.

‼️ Why now is the greatest time to launch a startup.

👷 How to build & succeed as a technical founder (meme edition).

👀 What founders need to look out for in early-stage term sheets.

THREE HEADLINES ANSWER

It’s D, unfortunately. Fancy Feast, a gourmet cat food brand is putting on the pop up.