Marqeta acquires fintech infrastructure startup Power Finance for $275M • TechCrunch

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We’re starting the week, and we’ve had a blast Runa Sandvikits story of how US police are using digital data to prosecute abortions in our post-Roe-v.-Wade world. The TL;DR is that healthcare in the US is a strange world, and you should use end-to-end encrypted messaging if you’re going to DM your friends about things that are potentially illegal. — Christine and Shark

TechCrunch Top 3

Startups and VCs

“I can’t explain it. It’s weird,” Alphonzo “Phonz” Terrell added Amanda. After losing his job at Twitter when Elon Musk took over, the former Global Head of Social and Editorial didn’t want to rest—he wanted to build. “Coming straight out of it, I just said, ‘Oh, it’s time.’ It’s time to build, whether we get support or not.'” Now he has raised just under $3 million to build a competitor to Twitter.

Speaking of alternatives to Twitter, Aisha and tailor took to the internet to find the best Twitter alternatives worth checking out. Ultimately, they conclude, it is not, and probably never will be, a one-to-one replacement for Twitter.

Oh, and good news for game nerds after a lot of really stupid missteps: Amanda writes how the 403-page Dungeons & Dragons game system is now licensed under Creative Commons.

And here’s a handful more, because we love you:

What do recent state tax changes mean for US SaaS startups?

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For SaaS startups, tax time can create a conundrum.

Some states consider software-as-a-service products to be services, while others classify them as products.

“There’s also the issue of bundling alone,” according to startup tax accountant Ardy Esmaeili. “SaaS may not be taxed, but it will be when paired with hardware.”

To help entrepreneurs better understand their liability, Esmaeili shares tips on how to identify a company’s physical nexus and lists several SaaS categories that states are likely to tax.

“Engage an expert as early as possible,” he writes. “Don’t think you don’t have to worry about it yet, because waiting can have big consequences later.”

Three more from the TC+ team:

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Big Tech Inc.

Manish reports that Manu Jain is the latest Xiaomi boss to leave. This may sting a bit for the company because Jain was the one who set up and scaled the smartphone maker’s presence in India.

Alright, now you’re here, checking all the security boxes, setting up your two-factor authentication, and along comes a hacker—albeit paid by Meta—who finds a bug that allows someone to bypass that two-factor authentication on Facebook and Instagram. I guess it’s a good thing they caught it, but ugh! Lorenzo have more.

And we have five more for you: