Weekly news and teardowns on trending startup companies
The most relevant Twitter threads of the week
Product of the week brought to you by ProductHunt
Detailed stats on the companies that raised venture capital
Some of you may know that most of our staff live in a country famous for its beaches - Costa Rica. Nothing beats a sunset on the Pacific coast beaches, or waking up in the heart of the Caribbean jungle next to crystal clear ocean waters. So, it makes perfect sense for people to move here - it’s paradise! Lately, many people have come to one destination in particular: Nosara.
Nosara is a small beach town five hours away from San José. It's so isolated from the rest of the country that it has become a secluded paradise to many foreigners for years but now it's the go-to place for digital nomads, thanks to a new digital nomad visa that has few requirements and many perks. They've come from all over the world to live and work here and, from an outside perspective, that might seem great - more people means more jobs, investment, and growth, right? Unfortunately, it's not all good news.
We Costa Ricans know a thing or two about a paradise lost. Popular beaches such as Jacó and Tamarindo have slowly eroded from natural havens to tourist traps with skyscrapers, endless partying, and polluted shores. The fear is that is Nosara will go through the same thing.
Mansions, luxury hotels, and boutique Airbnb have popped up left, right, and center, taking up whatever scarce land that was left. While anyone with a steady income in USD can live comfortably, the locals struggle to make ends meet. Groceries have become so expensive that locals choose to travel hours to San José, Costa Rica’s capital, to buy monthly supplies. Finding a place to live is a challenge, let alone building a house, as living costs have skyrocketed, in some cases doubling, or even tripling in four years. Not only that, construction is so rampant that it has dried water resources and local authorities have stopped issuing permits.
Everyone wants to live here, but not everyone can. So far, Nosara has managed to remain isolated and exclusive, but it might not be this way for long. As people flock to these idyllic destinations, problems come along. These problems are so big that water shortages are the least of Nosara’s concerns, and as the concrete stacks up, so do issues like drugs, sexual assaults, and violence. Is Nosara going to become a paradise lost? We wanted to know, so we dove deep into this isolated beach town that's evolving (for better or worse), and what we found blew us away.
Online toxic content is almost a given these days, and Bodyguard.ai wants to change that. The startup has created an AI solution that filters 95% of harmful content in 200 milliseconds. That's faster than you can react! First, Bodyguard.ai analyzes conversations across Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitch. Then, it filters out toxicity.
Users can select protection levels depending on the type of toxicity. The platform can target insults, threats, trolling, body-shaming, racism, LGBT+phobia, and much more. Plus, it can help rebuff spam and scams.
The company didn't stop there. It expanded into a SaaS model and helps major brands keep their communities safe. Bodyguard.ai wants to protect even more accounts, as it landed a 9-million euro Series A funding round, led by Keen Venture Partners and Ring Capital. With this funding, the company hopes to double its size by 2023.
Joe Biden signed an executive order to assess the risks and benefits of creating a digital dollar and other crypto issues. After the news, Bitcoin surged, and the world seemed to embrace the administration's approach to the matter. So, what does this executive order mean?
The executive order comes to promote responsible innovation. The first step is to boost financial inclusion. Then, it aims to mitigate risks associated with digital currencies. Also, another critical measure is assessing the infrastructure required to power a digital dollar. The dollar is so crucial to the world economy that any actions will be careful. Yet, at the same time, the US has to play catch-up with other nations and their digital currencies, including China. So, this news doesn't imply that we're migrating to a digital dollar right away, but it might be a sign of things to come.
Threads of the Week:
https://twitter.com/growth_student/status/1502340176399396865?s=20&t=Y9hChch8XIM0MylJ9n0sfw
The Digital Nomad sector is growing more and more people each year, and Costa Rica has been a hot spot for the community. So, we decided to visit one of the digital nomad hotspots in Costa Rica to get a better sense of it, and let me tell you - this place seems perfect.
