Week In Review: Pet Startups Will Be The Death Of Silicon Valley

Hey everyone. Thank you for welcoming me into your inboxes yet again. I’m in Berlin where TechCrunch just pulled off another great Disrupt event, we’ve got a lot of great Europe-focused startup content on the site so get to scrolling if your interest is piqued. If you’re reading this on the TechCrunch site, you can get this in your inbox here, and follow my tweets here. The big story Just as Pets.com symbolized the ridiculousness that came to frame the tech industry preceding the Dotcom bubble burst at the start of the century, dog-walking startup Wag might symbolize that SoftBank’s earthquaking investment overexposure may extend far beyond a one-time WeWork mistake. This week, the WSJ reported that SoftBank had tossed in the towel on Wag, selling off its massive “nearly 50% stake” in the startup.