Task management software Workast raises $1.85 million; Snap CEO Evan Spiegel defends Snapchat redesign; and Air Force moves to buy small rocket launch services.

Task Management Software Workast Raises $1.85 Million

Workast, a Slack-based task management toolkit, raised $1.85 million in a seed round of funding led by Greycroft Partners as it looks to expand to other messaging platforms, TechCrunch reports. Workast plans to integrate its task management features with Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams, Stripe and even Cisco’s chat products. The company said it has 100,000 active users on a monthly basis.

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel Defends Snapchat Redesign

Despite backlash over a big redesign for the Snapchat app, Snap Chief Executive Evan Spiegel vigorously defended the redesign, TechCrunch reports. Spiegel said at the Goldman Sachs Internet & Technology Conference that people complaining about the app was a sort of validation that the changes the company wants to happen are, indeed, happening.

Air Force Moves to Buy Small Rocket Launch Services

The Air Force’s 2019 budget contains a new “Rocket Systems Launch Program” item for the purpose of buying “small launch services” for the timely delivery of smaller payloads into low-Earth and geostationary transfer orbit, Ars Technica reports. The new program, which must be approved by Congress, provides $47.6 million in fiscal year 2019 and a total of $192.5 million over the next five years. It deals with the delivery into space of payloads weighing up to 8,000 pounds. This program comes just as several new US-based companies, including Rocket Lab, Virgin Orbit, Vector, Stratolaunch Systems, and more have developed and are developing small satellite launch boosters.