Hi Everyone. This is Take Off. We're like the cheat codes to your favorite video game - empowering, game-changing, and providing an edge in the tech ecosystem.

Here's what we're serving up today:

• UBER Does the Unthinkable 🤑

• Chips and Guac Water 💧

• Asteroids ☄️

• Wednesday Wires 💰

UBER Does the Unthinkable 🤑

There were two things that we believed could never happen:

1. We could have a growth spurt after 25.

2. Uber could become profitable.

But it turns out we were wrong, at-least for the 2nd thing.

Everyone, from the Tech Bros at Silicon Valley to the Wolves at Wall Street popped the champagne yesterday as Uber FINALLY left the Land of Losses and joined the Profit Party.

Yes, my dear friends, after almost 14 years and burning through $31.5 billion, Uber has declared its first operating profit. Here’s a quick look at their Q2 numbers:

1. Total Revenue: $9.2 Billion (+14%)

2. Net Profit: $394 Million

3. Mobility Revenue: $4.9 Billion (+38%)

4. Delivery Revenue: $3.1 Billion (+14%)

5. Freight Revenue: $1.3 Billion (+30%)

1/ The Past

Uber started out in 2009 and has undergone one of the most ambitious global expansions undertaken by a tech startup.

It tapped mountains of cheap capital to not only grab market share, but to create an entire market itself.

You know you’re a pioneer when your company name becomes a verb. It’s the poster child for a Silicon Valley startup.

2/ The Present

What led to this financial U-turn? Uber’s business had been growing positively post-pandemic with the demand for ride-hailing and food delivery at an all-time high.

The company also stopped giving discounts left, right, center and started raising prices recently. They’ve also upped their financial management game to rein in cost control.

3/ The Future

(NYSE:UBER) has gone up by 90% this year and it seems like the road ahead is smooth. The company mentioned that they project to be profitable in the next quarter as well and even raised revenue guidance.

Uber’s ride-hailing rival, Lyft, has been losing market share post-pandemic and Uber is happily picking up their slack - and their passengers.

Uber was quick to woo their drivers after the pandemic to get them back on the roads while Lyft didn’t exactly go pedal to the metal on driver incentives.

Although Lyft is trying to catch up by slashing ride fares, Uber seems to be cruising along especially with the added benefit of having a massive food delivery biz.

Chips and Guac Water 💧

What all ingredients do you think are required for creating the silicon chips that power ALL of our world? Have a look at the list.

1. Lots of Silicon (Duh, obviously)

2. Lots of Money (Understandable)

3. Lots of Water (Wait a sec, what?)

Yes, you read that right. Water may not sound like a conventional ingredient for manufacturing semiconductor chips but it plays a very essential role.

1/ Why water, though?

The chip industry is a great gulper as it requires water for the cleanup to keep the silicon wafers free from even the tiniest specks of dust to prevent contamination.

Also, we ain’t talking about Smart Water or Fiji Water here. We’re going ultrapure baby!

While standard drinking water might have a purity of about 100-800 contamination units/cm, ultrapure water has less than 0.055 units/cm.

It seems like water really is the elixir of life, both for humans and chips.

2/ How much water are we talking about?

Well, a LOOOT to be honest.

According to the Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), a single factory might use millions of gallons in a single day.

That’s almost the same amount of water as a small city in an entire year.

3/ Climate Effects

The US has recently passed the famous $50 Billion CHIPS ACT to incentivize companies to set up manufacturing units on home soil.

As more companies construct these multi-billion dollar facilities, cities need to prepare for what it might mean for their water systems.

Chipmakers are also investing heavily in improving the filtration and cleaning process to make more water reusable.

• Intel is targeting net positive water use by 2030.

• Micron aims to conserve 75% through “Reuse, Recycling and Restoration” by the end of the decade.

☄️ Asteroids ☄️

Tinder to launch a ‘high-end’ membership this fall. They're launching a fancy new "Tinder Vault" membership for $500 a month, and gearing up for a cool product refresh tailored for Gen Z. 💰💪

Privateer Space is launching Pono, aiming to democratize space data access. It's like when GPS went mainstream but for space! 🛰️🌍

Facebook and Instagram start blocking news in Canada. This comes after the country’s Online News Act, which would require tech companies to pay publishers for their news content. 🇨🇦🚫

💰 Wednesday Wires 💰

Nile just secured $175M in Series C funding and offers networking-as-a-service, making enterprise networking easy-peasy! They aim to simplify complex enterprise networks. 🌍📈 

Socket, a startup tackling open source software security woes, just secured $20 million in Series A funding led by a16z. CEO Feross Aboukhadijeh is all about making security user-friendly and efficient for devs. 👩‍💻🔒

Pet telehealth startup Airvet just fetched $18.2M in Series B funding! The plan is to help pet parents connect with vets any day, any time. 🐾 🎉 

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