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☆ The top 6 people in artificial-intelligence edtech
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-03 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Insider has compiled a list of 100 people at the forefront of artificial intelligence . See who made the list for education, and read about how they're making an impact. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . Advances in education tech aided by AI have investors abuzz and could change the landscape of learning as we know it. Here are our picks for edtech.

Persons: — Organizations: Service, edtech

☆ Here's an exclusive look at the pitch deck that Martian, an AI startup that helps developers find the best LLM, used to raise $9 million from investors like NEA and Prosus Ventures
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

They set up a 30-minute meeting because of their shared interest in advancing AI technology and research. Now, the company has come out the gate with $9 million in seed funding in a round co-led by NEA and Prosus Ventures. "You often need an entire AI team to go and test and evaluate these models," Ginsburg said. Going forward, Ginsberg and Upadhyay hope to attract more enterprise customers and continue their research into AI models to make routing even more efficient and "build more awesome tooling." See the eight-slide deck that convinced investors at NEA, Prosus Ventures, Carya Venture Partners, and General Catalyst to invest in Martian's $9 million seed round:

Persons: Etan Ginsberg, Shriyash Upadhyay, cofounders, Upadhyay, Catalyst, Claude —, Ginsburg, Ginsberg weren't, Ginsberg Organizations: University of Pennsylvania, Business, NEA, Prosus Ventures, Carya Venture Partners, Catalyst

☆ A formfitting blazer and Chelsea boots, or jeans and high-top sneakers? Here's how the 2023 rising stars of VC put together their 'power outfits.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-04 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | Ben Bergman | Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Many of this year's VC rising stars told Business Insider that their go-to power outfits included apparel like tailored sport coats or Chelsea boots, and more casual pieces like hoodies and well-fitting jeans. Very few investors are wearing collared shirts with their jackets, opting instead to pair it with a t- shirt and jeans. Nmachi Jidemna told Business Insider that for her everyday wear, her go-to was "usually a structured blazer with a relaxed pair of jeans." Lori Harvey (left) and Heidi Klum (right) wearing red outfits. Black flowy trousers, black turtleneck, and chunky black boots."

Persons: that's, Laura Bock, Nmachi Jidemna, Javier Grevely, Ralph Lauren, Tobi Coker, Janelle Teng, Patron's Amber Atherton, Jason Yeh, Ashley Paston, Justin Williams, VCs, Mahati Sridhar, Grady Dick, Michelle Farsi, Pear, Vivien Ho, Lori Harvey, Heidi Klum, Valentina Frugiuele, Bauer, Griffin, Luci Fonseca, RTFKT, Brandon Hoffman, JL, Sarah Wu, Emerson, Fiona Huang, Demi Obayomi, Natalie Borowski, Daisy Wolf, Andreessen Horowitz Organizations: Business, Wellington Management, Converse, Seae Ventures, Getty, GV, Nike, Sunset Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures Locations: London, Chelsea

☆ From bouldering to silent meditation retreats: Here's how this year's rising stars of VC are keeping their wellness on track while hunting down deals
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( Samantha Stokes | Madeline Renbarger | Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

And these rising stars of the VC world are at the forefront of the trend, with many adopting various wellness routines. Business Insider asked this year's rising stars to name their best wellness hack that keeps them at the top of their game. Find ways to get movingMany rising stars in VC have a relationship with exercise that goes beyond an obligatory hour at the gym or a forced jog around the block. "It's amazing how taking just 10 minutes out of my day helps set the pace and structure for the rest of the day so well," she told Business Insider. she told Business Insider.

Persons: Base10, Justin Williams, Fiona Huang, Huang, Laura Bock, Amanda Herson, Taylor Brandt, Luci Fonseca, It's, Vivien Ho, VCs, journaling, Ashley Paston, Ahmed Mirza, who's, Amber Atherton, Brandon Hoffman, Tobi Coker, Wellington Management's Javier Grevely, Natalie Borowski, I've Organizations: Business, Seae Ventures, Ventures, Headline, Base10 Investors, Meritech, Sunset Ventures Locations: New York, Eastern, Brooklyn

2023 was a tumultuous year for the venture capital industry. This year, Business Insider asked the most important VCs across the US to name the most promising VCs in their cities. Business Insider also asked the general public and last year's rising stars who they thought should make the cut. And just like last year, more of this year's rising stars are women than men, indicating that more women are being brought into the pipeline of the traditionally male-dominated venture capital industry. Scroll to see 2023's rising stars of venture capital, organized alphabetically by the investor's name.

Organizations: Silicon Valley Bank, Tech, Business

☆ Sam Altman suddenly looks less powerful. The panic caused by OpenAI's near-death experience is to blame.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

VCs threatened to sue OpenAI's board, and some jockeyed to get in on whatever new situation might replace the fizzled startup. And in OpenAI's case, Altman was brought back as CEO and all the employees stayed. AdvertisementUntil this moment, the consensus was that Altman came through this crisis looking even more powerful and crucial to OpenAI's future. 'The company will be totally fine without me'Silicon Valley just realized that the fate of the world's most important AI company rested in the hands of just one person. The startup's near-death experience unsettled the companies and developers that have come to rely on OpenAI's artificial intelligence platform.

Persons: OpenAI, Altman, —, Sam Altman, VCs, OpenAI's, Wesley Chan, Claude, Guillermo Rauch, Rauch, pinged Rauch, –, Bret Taylor, Madeline Renbarger Organizations: Service, Microsoft, FDIC, FPV Ventures, Google, Services Locations: Silicon Valley, It's

☆ Meet the founder of the Failure Museum, an exclusive collection of swag from companies that went bust
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-25 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Norwest partner Sean Jacobsohn started collecting objects from failed businesses a year ago. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . To make it into the museum, the failure has to be a physical item — no NFTs allowed, Jacobsohn said. Some even offer to donate failed business swag as a way of getting in his rolodex. He's currently scheduled to lead a guest lecture on the subject for the class "Avoiding Startup Failure,' he mentioned.

Persons: Sean Jacobsohn, he's, it's, —, Jordan Poole, Jacobsohn, Sean Jacobsohn's, freebie, Jacobsohn's, Mattel, Allan, Ken's, Michael Cera's, Harley Davidson's, Elizabeth Holmes, He's, you've Organizations: Service, Bay Area, Norwest Venture Partners, Golden State Warriors, Business, Mattel, eBay, mater, Harvard Business School Locations: Bay, cologne

☆ 20 women in venture capital who made partner or higher at firms like Khosla Ventures and GV in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-24 | by ( Samantha Stokes | Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

The venture capital industry is overwhelmingly male. But more firms made moves to close the gender gap in 2023 by hiring and promoting women to partners. Startups and venture capital are still overwhelmingly boy's clubs — but each year, more and female investors are claiming their seat at the table. Business Insider is recognizing the women in venture capital who made partner or general partner for the first time in 2023. You can read more about Europe's new female partners here.

Persons: Alice Brooks, Jennifer Campbell Organizations: Khosla Ventures, Business

☆ VCs didn't care about OpenAI's weird board structure. It was all about investing in Sam Altman and its 'transformative' tech.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | Vishal Persaud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

OpenAI's venture capital investors weren't thinking about its mission to serve "humanity" by developing artificial intelligence. After Altman's ouster, Vinod Khosla, an early investor in OpenAI, came to his defense despite the criticism. OpenAI's complex and unique corporate governance structure meant that VCs could invest in the capped profit entity, but never earn any influence over the nonprofit board of directors, all of whom were either cofounders or appointed outside AI experts. The board structure and its governance are all likely to change as part of the deal to bring Sam Altman back as CEO of OpenAI. The purpose of the newly formed OpenAI board – consisting of current board member D'Angelo, former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor – is to vet and potentially appoint an expanded board of up to nine people, and that Microsoft and Altman want board seats, The Verge reported.

Persons: Sam Altman, OpenAI, Altman, VCs, Sam, Altman's, Vinod Khosla, Yunus, Khosla, Wesley Chan, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, Tasha McCauley, who's, Joseph Gordon, Levitt, Helen Toner, Adam D'Angelo, Karthee Madasamy, it's, David Sacks, D'Angelo, Larry Summers, Bret Taylor – Organizations: Business, Tiger Global Management, Khosla Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Microsoft, FPV Ventures, Rand Corporation, Georgetown's Center for Security, Emerging Technology, MFV Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, Ikea, Bosch, Novo Nordisk Foundation, Bertelsmann Foundation, Carlsberg Foundation, Craft Ventures Locations: OpenAI, Silicon Valley, Hollywood

As Open AI employees celebrated the return of CEO Sam Altman with a five-alarm office party , OpenAI software engineer Steven Heidel was busy publicly rebuffing overtures from Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. Heidel was one of more than 700 OpenAI employees who's threatened exodus halted a would-be mutiny at one of Silicon Valley's most important AI companies. He was previously a scientist at Facebook AI Research and worked as a member of Google Brain under supervision of Prof. Geoffrey Hinton and Ilya Sutskever. Alec Radford: Radford was hired in 2016 from a small AI company he founded in his dorm room. Tao Xu : technical staff, worked on GPT4 and WhisperChristine McLeavey : technical staff, with contributions to music-related productsChristina Kim : technical staffChristopher Hesse : technical staffHeewoo Jun : technical staff, researchAlex Nichol : technical staff, researchWilliam Fedus: technical staff, researchIlge Akkaya: technical staff, researchVineet Kosaraju : technical staff, researchHenrique Ponde de Oliveira Pinto : technical staffAditya Ramesh : technical staff, developed DALL-E and DALL-E 2Prafulla Dhariwal : research scientistHunter Lightman : technical staffHarrison Edwards : research scientistYura Burda : machine language researcherTyna Eloundou : technical staff, researchPamela Mishkin : researcherCasey Chu : researcherDavid Dohan : technical staff, researchAidan Clark : researcherRaul Puri : research scientistLeo Gao : technical staff, researchYang Song : technical staff, researchGiambattista ParascandoloTodor Markov : Machine learning researcherNick Ryder : technical staff

Persons: Sam Altman, Steven Heidel, Marc Benioff, Heidel, Altman, Mira Murati, Murati, Brad Lightcap, Lightcap, Jason Kwon, Kwon, Wojciech Zaremba, Geoffrey Hinton, Ilya Sutskever, Alec Radford, Radford, OpenAI, Peter Welinder, He's, Github Copilot, Anna Makanju, Andrej Karpathy, OpenAI's, Michael Petrov, Petrov, Greg [ Brockman, Miles Brundage, Brundage, John Schulman OpenAI, Srinivas Narayanan, Scott Grey, Grey, Bob McGrew, Research Che Chang, Lillian Weng, Safety Systems Mark Chen, Frontiers Research Barret Zoph, Peter Deng, Jan Leike Evan Morikawa Steven Heidel Jong Wook Kim, Tao Xu, Christine McLeavey, Christina Kim, Christopher Hesse, Heewoo, Alex Nichol, William Fedus, Henrique Ponde de Oliveira Pinto, Aditya Ramesh, Hunter Lightman, Harrison Edwards, Yura, Tyna, Pamela Mishkin, Casey Chu, David Dohan, Aidan Clark, Raul Puri, Leo Gao, Yang, Giambattista Parascandolo Todor Markov, Nick Ryder Organizations: Business, BI, OpenAI, Khosla Ventures, Facebook, Research, Google, Tesla, U.S . Department of Energy, Oxford University, Safety Systems, Frontiers Research Locations: Albania, Canada, OpenAI

☆ Chaos at OpenAI ensues
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

In today's big story, we're looking at the continued fallout from the shocking Sam Altman ouster at OpenAI. Altman is alive and well, but his run as CEO of OpenAI ended abruptly on Friday. But in the days since his firing, he's escaped a messy weekend looking like the ultimate hero, Business Insider's Katie Notopoulos writes. To be fair, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and OpenAI CEO Emmett Shear don't seem to know why either. Meanwhile, Salesforce's Marc Benioff is already actively recruiting OpenAI employees on X.

Persons: —, Sam Altman, Altman, OpenAI, he's, Katie Notopoulos, Altman isn't, Ilya Sutskever —, Sutskever, Kali Hays, Satya Nadella, Emmett Shear, Satya Nadella Stephen Brashear, Julie Bort, Microsoft's Nadella, Nadella, that's, Madeline Renbarger, That's, It's, Kali, Ashley Stewart, Salesforce's Marc Benioff, Scott Olson, Bridgewater's, Greg Jensen, Jim Chanos, Elon, New York Jefferson Siegel, Nvidia's, Jensen Huang, execs, Elon Musk, Linda Yaccarino, Arantza Pena Popo, Camila Téllez, Melkorka, Téllez, Carly Rae Jepsen, Björk, Colleen Ballinger, Clinton, Dan DeFrancesco, Naga Siu, Hallam Bullock, Lisa Ryan Organizations: Service, Microsoft, Getty, BlackRock, Reuters, Nvidia, Elon, HP, Nordstrom, Clinton Lee Locations: OpenAI, Silicon Valley, Bridgewater, New York, Texas, Millennials, New York City, San Diego, London

☆ With OpenAI's future in limbo, its startup customers are looking to jump ship to other AI models offered by rivals Anthropic and Meta
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

With Sam Altman's potential return to OpenAI still in question, one group is also left with a lot of uncertainty: OpenAI's startup customers. Those apprehensions were further worsened Monday, when over 700 of OpenAI's employees threatened to resign if he wasn't reinstated. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Several startup founders told Business Insider that they were considering switching to an open source model like Meta's Llama 2, or Anthropic's Claude. Still, several customers like Takeoff AI founder McKay Wrigley are switching to Microsoft's Azure service, which sells copies of OpenAI's models and other models.

Persons: Sam Altman's, OpenAI, Altman, wasn't, Claude, James Blackwell, McKay Wrigley, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Morgan Stanley, Wrigley, Charlie Dolan, he's, Anthropic, Guillermo Rauch, Matt McIlwain, We've, McIlwain, Alistair Barr Organizations: Business, Google, Services, Microsoft, OpenAI, Bank Locations: Anthropic

☆ VCs weigh in on the chaos unfolding at OpenAI, rallying behind ousted CEO Sam Altman: 'I hope the board can get its act together'
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-19 | by ( Samantha Stokes | Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

OpenAI's board ousted Sam Altman, its chief executive, on Friday. AdvertisementVCs this weekend have one message for Sam Altman — we're with you. In another X post, he called on OpenAI's board to explain in more detail why they fired Altman. Advertisement"We are grateful for Sam's many contributions to the founding and growth of OpenAI," the board said in a statement. "So I hope the board can get its act together and bring Sam and Greg back."

Persons: OpenAI's, Sam Altman, —, Sam Altman —, Mira Murati, Altman, Vinod Khosla —, OpenAI —, Sam, David Sachs, OpenAI, ChatGPT —, Ilya Sutskever —, Sutskever, Jason Kwon, Altman's, He's, Greg Bockman, Jessica Livingston, Greg, Sam retakes OpenAI Organizations: Altman, Service, Khosla Ventures, Ventures, Microsoft Locations: Silicon, Silicon Valley, @OpenAI

☆ With an intensified focus on AI, VC firm Mayfield is closely watching for 'maturing' early-stage gen AI startups in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

In July, the firm announced its first dedicated seed fund focused on AI called AI Start. Prior to launching AI Start, Mayfield had already backed 25 early-stage startups in the space like MindsDB. Reddy's background makes him a perfect fit to lead the $250 million fund, Chaddha told Business Insider. This year, Chaddha tapped him to lead its new AI seed fund. With the AI Start fund, the team plans to double down and lead deals in seed stage and pre-seed generative AI startups, as well as AI infrastructure startups with an enterprise focus.

Persons: Mayfield, Vijay Reddy, who's, Reddy, Navin Chaddha, Mayfield's, Chaddha, He's Organizations: Business, Intel Capital, Cisco, Clear Ventures, Mayfield Locations: Mayfield

☆ See the Pitch Deck That AI Startup Micro1 Used to Raise $3.3 Million
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Micro1 helps companies hire and manage software engineers by vetting potential hires with AI. Micro1 uses "GPT Vetting" to sort through candidates for open roles and can generate edit tests. Founder Ali Ansari grew the team to 25 employees in one year and raised $3.3 million. The 22-year-old founder had already started two businesses by the time he went to the University of California, Berkeley for college. Once in undergrad, Ansari tried his hand at building an engineer talent agency startup, where businesses could hire software engineers on a project-by-project basis.

Persons: Ali Ansari, Ansari Organizations: University of California, Business Locations: Berkeley, undergrad

☆ Startup workers are on edge
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

In today's big story, we're looking at why startups that have navigated multiple rounds of layoffs have left their workers feeling defeated. It's a question more and more startup employees are contemplating amid a historic downturn in the industry coupled with a pullback in VC funding. But as Insider's Samantha Stokes and Madeline Renbarger detail, employees are on edge nowadays because of the threat of multiple layoffs in a short time. Why work for a corporate entity and be a cog in the wheel when you can get hands-on experience at a startup? AdvertisementAdvertisementiStock; Rebecca Zisser/InsiderBut just because layoffs are a necessary evil of the startup industry, that doesn't mean employees' concerns aren't warranted.

Persons: —, Jamie Dimon isn't, JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon isn't, Samantha Lee, Samantha Stokes, Madeline Renbarger, Samantha, Madeline they've, Rebecca Zisser, Severance, Jamie Dimon, David Rosenberg, Myriam, Airism, Arantza Pena Popo, Chris Rondeau, it's, Katy Perry, Pablo Picasso, Kiersten, Dan DeFrancesco, Naga Siu, Hallam Bullock, Lisa Ryan Organizations: Service, What's, JPMorgan, EV, Microsoft, TikTok, IBM, Boeing, Meta, Mattel Locations: Southern California, New York City, San Diego, London, New York

☆ Startup employees are reeling as they brace for back-to-back rounds of layoffs: 'When it happens again, you start to lose that confidence and faith in your leadership.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Samantha Stokes | Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

For the startup employees interviewed by Insider, the constant threat of layoffs is having a detrimental effect on company morale. said one employee working at a growth stage startup that's conducted three rounds of layoffs this year. For Reay, the former Sendoso employee, constant rounds of layoffs gave him and his surviving colleagues "strategy whiplash." "When it happens again, you start to lose that confidence and faith in your leadership." Some startup employees are reconsidering their future in the industryAs startup employees brace for the potential of more job cuts, they say that the experience has them second-guessing whether to stay in the industry at all.

Persons: Sean Reay, it's, Reay, SoftBank, Sendoso, what's, I'm, Raey, SchoolMint, I've, you'd, he's, Jackie Xu, Xu Talent, Kleiner Perkins, Xu, you've Organizations: Facebook, Meta, Twitter, Sendoso, GV, Google, Employees Locations: San Diego, That's, SPAC

☆ Insider is seeking nominations for the 2023 rising stars of venture capital
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Insider is putting together a list of the best up-and-coming venture capitalists of 2023. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementAdvertisementWe are seeking nominations for Insider's yearly list of rising stars of venture capital, and we want to hear from you. In the past, we've had people with a variety of roles and experiences from VC funds like Founders Fund, Greylock Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Tiger Global, and Spark Capital. Please email Madeline Renbarger at mrenbarger@insider.com or Samantha Stokes at sstokes@insider.com with any questions or issues submitting your nominations.

Persons: VCs, —, we've, Madeline Renbarger, Samantha Stokes Organizations: Service, Founders, Greylock Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Tiger Global, Spark Locations: mrenbarger@insider.com, sstokes@insider.com

Insider spoke with startup founders and VCs who are managing companies while aiding the war effort. Startup founders and employees have traveled back to Israel from their homes abroad to take up arms and defend their country. The call to serveIn Israel, military service is mandatory for all citizens over 18. These startup founders and employees are using the skills they use every day like problem solving, multitasking and leading during the war effort. "I'm lucky to be a cofounder not a sole founder, so I'm relying on my cofounder," Kandel explained.

Persons: Israel, VCs, —, Oren Kandel, I'm, We're, Munch, Kandel, Isaac Gili, Jon Medved, David, Noy, Danielle Eisenberg, Leyb, Eisenberg, I've, Medved, Oren Kandel Kandel, that's, Ben Yellin, Ofer Sharon, Itamar Friedman, " Eisenberg, Tasmin Lockwood Organizations: Palestinian, Hamas, Service, Wednesday, Israeli Defense Forces, Startup, Israel Relief, Microsoft, Israel, Tel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, GGV, Insight Partners Locations: Gaza, Israel, Gedera, New York, cyberintelligence, Tel Aviv, Binyamina

☆ How 27-year-old Nick Simpson built the freelancing tax tool he wished he had and then raised $7.5 million in venture funding
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-11 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

WorkMade is a new startup that lets freelancers keep track of their earnings and pay taxes. Frequent freelancer Nick Simpson founded WorkMade in 2022 and scaled the startup to 12 employees. Now, the startup is launching publicly with $7.5 million in venture capital funding to date. AdvertisementAdvertisementWhen it comes time for a freelancer to pay their taxes, WorkMade manages that process too, including the payment without any forms, mail or extra calculations. According to Statista, there are an estimated 73 million freelancers working in the US this year, and that number is projected to grow to over 90 million by 2028.

Persons: Nick Simpson, WorkMade, —, Simpson, Anna Barber's, Gale Wilkinson's, Slack, Statista, I'd, I've Organizations: Service, Venture Capital, WorkMade, Piermont Bank Locations: Wellington, New

☆ SchoolMint cuts 14.5% of staff in a second round of layoffs this year, as the forecast for edtech startups looks uncertain
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The edtech startup SchoolMint, which helps public schools and charter schools increase and manage student enrollment, cut 29 full-time staff members last week, or 14.5% of staff, Insider has learned. According to multiple sources familiar with the layoffs, this was not the first time this year SchoolMint has eliminated head count. Before these cuts, there were over 250 employees at SchoolMint, according to sources and LinkedIn data. The layoffs at SchoolMint come at an uncertain time for the edtech market, as the sector's pandemic-induced capital boom has seen an increasing slowdown. SchoolMint itself has not been immune to this uncertainty in the broader edtech market.

Persons: SchoolMint, It's Organizations: NewSchools Venture Fund, Reach, Investment Partners Locations: SchoolMint, Silicon Valley, Lafayette , Louisiana

☆ Founder-turned-investor Liz Wessel worked with more than 100 startups during her time at YC. Now, she's First Round Capital's newest partner.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Liz Wessel has heard more than her fair share of startup pitches in her career as a founder. Now, Wessel is fulfilling that desire to invest and advise founders full-time, by joining the early-stage venture capital firm First Round Capital as the team's newest investment partner. Wessel had met many of the partners at First Round Capital while she was still the CEO of WayUp. She shared that Y Combinator's managing director Michael Seibel counseled her directly on her decision to jump into venture investing full-time. And given the increasingly tenuous state of the seed market, she'll be looking for startup founders that are particularly knowledgable about their customer base and have "strong business fundamentals," she said.

Persons: Liz Wessel, Wessel, WayUp, JJ Fliegelman, Fliegelman, Michael Seibel, Combinator, she's Organizations: WayUp, Yello, Google, First, YC

Several venture capitalists call New York home and are writing checks to startups of all stages. The city's prominent sectors like finance and media are also prevalent in its VC activity. Insider compiled a list of New York's top VCs, based on recommendations and investment data. The Big Apple's venture capital scene is as strong as ever. This story is available exclusively to Insider subscribers.

Organizations: Street Locations: New York

☆ Meagan Loyst, the founder of Gen Z VCs, asked her social media followers for the one thing they would change about venture capital. Here's what they told her.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Loyst founded Gen Z VCs, a community of over 25,000 young investors, founders and operators. A plurality of young investors and founders said they wanted venture capital to be more accessible. AdvertisementAdvertisementFor newcomers, the clubby world of venture capital can often seem like a black box. AdvertisementAdvertisementAccording to her poll, 45% of respondents said they wished the venture capital industry was "more accessible" to newcomers. AdvertisementAdvertisementLoyst's survey responses are reflective of how many young investors and founders feel shut out of the venture capital industry today, which could potentially get worse during the venture capital downturn.

Persons: Loyst, Z, —, Meagan Loyst, Hippeau Organizations: Service, Black Venture, Venture, Sequoia, Forbes, Oxford University

☆ 20-year-old Quddus Pativada built one of the hottest AI study tools while he was still in high school. He's now launching it for schools.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

At 17 years old, Quddus Pativada was determined to do something about inequality in education. Now, three years later, the 20-year-old Pativada has turned his high school vision into a full-fledged startup, with 8 employees globally working on his AI educational assistant ASI, formerly known as Digest.ai. Pativada set out to create a new AI-powered studying assistant nearly a year before ChatGPT debuted on the world stage. After more interactions, the AI tutoring bot can pick up on what a student is good at and where they may need more help, to further personalize the experience for that learner's needs. Pativada's grand vision for ASI is still to offer personalized tutoring for individual students, but to also market the learning tool to governments and businesses for quick, personalized employee upskilling.

Persons: Quddus Pativada, Pativada, Mark Cuban, Deborah Quazzo, ChatGPT, Khan Organizations: TechCrunch, ASI Locations: Dubai, Ghana

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