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☆ AI startup Perplexity is in talks to raise more money at a significantly higher valuation just months after its last round
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read previewOnly months after buzzy AI search-engine startup Perplexity AI raised its last round of funding, the company is yet again raising additional funds, as investors clamor to back tech's next big generative AI startup. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Perplexity is raising this additional money at a significantly higher valuation cap than its previous pricing of $520 million, according to two people with direct knowledge. A spokesperson told Business Insider that the details of the deal were incorrect but did not clarify when asked for further information.

Persons: —, clamor, Jeff Bezos, Perplexity, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Bard, Aravind Srinivas, It's, Elad Gil, Nat Friedman, Fred Wilson, aren't Organizations: Service, Google, Business, Institutional Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Bessemer Venture Partners, Nvidia Locations: OpenAI

☆ Union Square Ventures slashed the value of 7 of its funds by 26%. Insiders say this will be the 'start of a cascade' of lower valuations for VC funds.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Union Square Ventures is widely considered to be one of the top performing venture firms of all time. USV marked down seven of its funds by nearly 26% this year, a far steeper writedown than other firms. Union Square Ventures — an early backer of Robinhood, Coinbase, and Etsy— is widely considered to be one of the top performing venture firms of all time. Venture firms are required to value their holdings at fair market value, but assessing the value of illiquid assets leaves considerable room for discretion. USV's 2004 fund returned more than $305 million in cash from a $22 million UTIMCO investment, with an IRR of 66%.

Persons: USV, —, VCs, Vincent Harrison, Combinator, Fred Wilson, Wilson Organizations: Square Ventures, Union Square Ventures, UTIMCO, University of Texas, Venture, Bay, Sequoia, Twitter, Zynga Locations: Robinhood, Texas, USV

☆ Private venture-capital returns from one of the largest endowments reveal Union Square Ventures has been wildly successful. Sequoia and Y Combinator have lost money so far.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

USV's 2004 fund returned more than $305 million in cash from a $22 million UTIMCO investment, with an IRR of 66%. Thrive Capital, the venture firm Joshua Kushner founded in 2009, has delivered -34% IRR on two funds from late 2021. UTIMCO's $6.7 million invested has been marked down to $4.6 million. Two funds UTIMCO invested in the VC firm Initialized at the beginning of 2022 have a -5.5% IRR. Upfront Ventures, the most prominent early-stage firm in Los Angeles, has returned only $31 million though UTIMCO invested $110 million since 2015.

☆ Jim Cramer: My worldview for the first half of 2023 and the stocks that will win
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +27 min

Our stock market comes out of 2022 better than any other. The profitless companies today — like the dot-com stocks in 2000 — almost all disappointed and will continue to disappoint in 2023. I had thought these people would come back to work when they realized that savings from the stock market and Social Security aren't enough of a safety net. Money will be exiting the stock market all year into the safer and somewhat greener pastures. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade.

☆ After FTX's collapse, an SEC commissioner says crypto is worsening finance's existing flaws, while investors look for answers on regulatory concerns
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( April Joyner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Investors told Insider that they welcome regulation and more guidance at the federal level. In Lizárraga's view, many crypto companies have not only replicated the flaws of the traditional finance industry, but they've made them worse by operating in a regulatory gray area. Instead, crypto companies can protect both themselves and their customers by embracing regulation rather than seeking to sidestep it, he said. She decided to partner with the fintech company Apex for Zingeroo's crypto offering rather than a pure-play crypto exchange because she felt more confident that Apex would follow proper compliance. But others, including some venture capitalists, have suggested that federal regulators have not provided enough clarity to crypto companies.

☆ The first-time founder's ultimate guide to hiring top talent, from a Greylock partner, a former Googler, a Stanford lecturer, and a consultant to Spotify and JPMorgan
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-19 | by ( Shana Lebowitz | Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

We asked a series of entrepreneurship experts — including founders, investors, and business professors — to outline some best hiring practices. Read more: The first-time founder's ultimate guide to pitching a VCNow, your goal in hiring the company's first few employees is to get the product or service to market. Patty McCord, former chief talent officer at Netflix, previously told Business Insider that managers should regularly evaluate whether their current team is equipped to tackle the next big challenge. Break down your organization into different levels: the senior management team, director-level managers, key employees, and employees in non-critical functions. As Sophie Kahn, cofounder of the sustainable jewelry company AUrate, told Business Insider, you can also consider your employees' personal preferences.

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