Greg Bensinger / Wall Street Journal: Ahead of next year’s IPO, Uber’s 3 year search for a CFO continues as sources say multiple people turned down the job and CEO wants at least a 5 year commitment  —  The ride-hailing company’s leading candidate, the CFO at VMware, has indicated he would likely withdraw from Techmeme… Read More Ahead of next year’s IPO, Uber’s 3 year search for a CFO continues as sources say multiple people turned down the job and CEO wants at least a 5 year commitment (Greg Bensinger/Wall Street Journal)

Lucas Matney / TechCrunch: Boston Dynamics founder says the company’s dog-like SpotMini robot will go on sale in 2019, but doesn’t disclose price  —  After 26 years, Boston Dynamics is finally getting ready to start selling some robots.  Founder Marc Raibert says that the company’s dog-like SpotMini robot … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2rARXxq

Tom Metcalf / BloombergQuint: Czech cybersecurity and antivirus company Avast has raised $814M in its London IPO and is now valued at $3.1B+  —  (Bloomberg) — Pavel Baudis and Eduard Kucera have the strictures of communism to thank for reaching the pinnacle of capitalism.  —  The Czech co-founders of cyber-security firm Avast Plc … from… Read More Czech cybersecurity and antivirus company Avast has raised $814M in its London IPO and is now valued at $3.1B+ (Tom Metcalf/BloombergQuint)

Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal: Luminary Media raises $40M; sources say it plans to launch subscription service for premium podcasts, has begun to strike licensing deals with podcast creators  —  The newly created venture has raised $40 million from New Enterprise Associates and others to enter the rapidly expanding realm of podcasting and audio.… Read More Luminary Media raises $40M; sources say it plans to launch subscription service for premium podcasts, has begun to strike licensing deals with podcast creators (Benjamin Mullin/Wall Street Journal)

Daniel Wiessner / Reuters: Appeals court rules against Seattle’s law that would give Uber and Lyft drivers the right to unionize, sends the case back for reconsideration by lower court  —  (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court on Friday revived a business group’s challenge to a Seattle law, the first of its kind … from… Read More Appeals court rules against Seattle’s law that would give Uber and Lyft drivers the right to unionize, sends the case back for reconsideration by lower court (Daniel Wiessner/Reuters)

Alex Kantrowitz / BuzzFeed: Facebook removes 10 Instagram groups that artificially inflated the popularity of member accounts and posts to game Instagram algorithm and gain more visibility  —  The groups, including one with more than 200,000 members, vanished after BuzzFeed News contacted Instagram. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2jOgXxL

Tamara Chuang / Denver Post: Denver based startup Visible offers unlimited 5 mbps data and voice plans at $40/mo on Verizon’s network via an invite-only app; says it is funded by Verizon  —  Funded by Verizon, the startup is nearly half the cost of Verizon’s similar plan  —  There’s a new mobile service in town… Read More Denver based startup Visible offers unlimited 5 mbps data and voice plans at $40/mo on Verizon’s network via an invite-only app; says it is funded by Verizon (Tamara Chuang/Denver Post)