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☆ Here's the 21-page pitch deck that Slope, a fintech looking to upend B2B payments, used to score $30 million from investors like OpenAI's Sam Altman
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-13 | by ( Bianca Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Lin Murata worked at the business growing up, doing everything from sales to filing paperwork to working the cash register. "My parents, they're very old school, and all the existing solutions were excruciating to use, and we realized there was a real need for a frictionless B2B payments solution," said Lin Murata. It's a tall order to digitize B2B payments — companies ranging from middle-market companies and mom-and-pop shops have been notoriously hard to penetrate and spur technological change. Of the $125 trillion market for global B2B payments, only a fraction of transactions — less than $6 trillion according to Slope's pitch deck — occur online. The latest investment brings Slope's total funding to $187 million, with $62 million in equity and $125 million in debt capital.

Persons: Lawrence Lin Murata, Lin Murata, Alice Deng, Deng, Sam Altman, OpenAI's Sam Altman Organizations: Union Square Ventures, OpenAI's Locations: China, Brazil, Slope's

☆ The pandemic learning loss was worse for kids with special needs. Now, startups are helping students with autism, dyslexia, and ADHD get back on track.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

A new group of startups are helping children with conditions like autism and ADHD learn in schools. And neurodivergent students that require special education assistance and mental health support are behind the learning curve. Guadalupe Lara, an intensive behavioral instruction aide for students with special needs at Pacific Elementary in Manhattan Beach, California, said helping her students recover from the learning losses during remote learning during the pandemic has been very tough. Staffing qualified special education teachers has also become a problem for schools. In the last two years, though, more generalist investors have begun to invest in startups in this area.

Persons: Vanessa Castañeda Gill wasn't, Castañeda Gill, Gill, Vanessa Castañeda Gill, Guadalupe Lara, Edweek, Rebecca Kaden, Vijay Ravindran, Suchi Deshpande, Ravindran, Floreo, Alex Alvarado, Alvarado, Daybreak's, Diana Heldfond, Dan Povitsky Organizations: Venture, Morning, Progress, Staffing, National Center for Education Studies, ABC News, Union Square Ventures, Meta, Vine Ventures Locations: Manhattan Beach , California, Floreo, America

☆ These education-tech startups are aiming to help kids with autism, ADHD and dyslexia in school
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

A new group of startups are helping children with conditions like autism and ADHD learn in schools. And neurodivergent students that require special education assistance and mental health support are behind the learning curve. Staffing qualified special education teachers has also become a problem for schools. As more districts look for solutions that can help address these problems, startups can be the ones offering the tools. In the last two years, though, more generalist investors have begun to invest in startups in this area.

☆ Death by LLM: Stack Overflow's decline, and its plan to survive, shows the future of free online data in an AI world
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Alistair Barr | Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Some AI models that compete against Stack Overflow were partly trained on the company's data. Online communities, like Stack Overflow and Wikipedia, thrived as hubs for experts and curious browsers to come together and share information freely. In 2021, Prosus, a major backer of Chinese tech giant Tencent, bought Stack Overflow for $1.8 billion. However, Nat Friedman, the CEO of Github through 2021, expects tech companies to pay for training data in the future. Stack Overflow is also working on new ways to measure the impact of a human's answer on the platform.

Persons: Prashanth Chandrasekar, OpenAI, Chandrasekar, coders, OpenAI's GPT, Stack, Elon Musk, Andreessen Horowitz, Sam Altman, JASON REDMOND, Jaap Arriens, GitHub, it's, chatGPT, Nasim Uddin, we're, Nat Friedman, Nat Friedman GitHub Friedman, Friedman, Axel Springer, Semafor, Prashanth Organizations: Union Square Ventures, Getty, Twitter, Publishers, Microsoft, Associated Press Locations: GPT, Prosus, AFP

☆ 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

☆ I dropped out of college and now make up to $5,000 a month as a 'meme lord'
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-16 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Jason Levin dropped out of college and turned his content creator side-hustle into a full-time job. He now makes between $2,000 and $5,000 a month by making memes and copywriting for startups and VCs. The growth came mostly from writing Twitter threads on marketing case studies and by making funny memes. While I made about $75 in crypto from the first few memes, I'm now earning between $2,000 and $5,000 a month from between three to five clients. I'm proud to say I'm a "meme lord" now, getting paid to make memes and silly content for companies.

Persons: Jason Levin, weren't, that's, I've, it's, I'm Organizations: Service, Rutgers University, Twitter, Union Square Ventures Locations: Wall, Silicon, New Jersey

☆ Exclusive: Buzzy legal generative AI startup Casetext is in talks to be acquired
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

AI startup Casetext is in talks to be acquired, Insider has learned. This hypothesis may have found its first example in Casetext, a buzzy legal generative AI startup that is in talks to be acquired, according to people familiar with the situation. Casetext has raised $68 million in funding from VCs including Union Square Ventures, Canvas Ventures, Y Combinator, and Touchdown Ventures. Now, the technology powers Casetext's AI legal assistant CoCounsel, which aids lawyers with everything from legal research memo drafting to deposition preparation to document review. Have a tip on a startup funding round?

☆ M3ter, a startup that enables SaaS firms to offer usage-based pricing, just raised $14 million with this 12-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

SaaS pricing startup M3ter has raised $14 million in Series A funding. M3ter helps companies manage their software spend by employing usage-based pricing. A startup that enables SaaS companies to offer usage-based pricing to customers has raised $14 million as it prepares to expand its presence in the US. "Usage-based pricing is a trend that is already happening so we're just selling shovels in a gold rush," Parry told Insider. In addition, the growth of usage-based pricing has come from a shift in the needs of B2B customers and the rise of automation.

☆ VC firms create $60 billion-plus climate tech alliance with backing from the UN
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A group of venture capital firms including Tiger Global and Union Square Ventures on Tuesday set up an alliance aimed at making private tech investing more climate-friendly. Called the Venture Climate Alliance (VCA), the coalition of more than 20 climate tech and generalist funds seeks to get the VC industry to increase its commitments to climate tech, a branch of technology devoted to finding solutions to the climate crisis. Generalist VC firms will need to make routine assessments of their carbon footprint, align their early-stage startup bets with net-zero goals. It is not the first initiative to bring climate's role in startup investing to the forefront. The alliance will fall under the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), a group formed during the COP26 climate conference.

☆ The SVB fallout has been a wake up call for startup founders. Many are rethinking their VC relationships: 'There's certain people I wouldn't want to take money from now.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Startup founders are wary of some VCs after their actions during the SVB crisis. Some founders were disheartened by investor advice on what to do with their money in SVB. "There's certain people I wouldn't want to take money from now," Sami Khan, cofounder and CEO of mobile games company Atlas Reality told Insider. He adds that it's difficult to blame people, both investors and founders, for the decisions they make in fast-moving situations. Without access to the dependable venture debt SVB offered, more founders may be forced to turn to dilutive venture capital for financing instead.

☆ Peter Thiel said he had $50 million in a personal account at Silicon Valley Bank when it collapsed, despite telling his portfolio companies to pull their money
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Samantha Delouya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Peter Thiel told the Financial Times that he had $50 million of his own money in SVB when it collapsed. Some have blamed Thiel for helping trigger the run on SVB after he told Founders Fund companies to pull deposits. "I had $50 million of my own money stuck in SVB," he told the Financial Times. However, Thiel told the FT that he did not believe the SVB would fail last week. Thiel told the FT that his account was frozen on Friday when regulators stepped in and took control of the bank.

☆ Venture capitalists have never been more divided, with accusations flying over who killed their beloved bank SVB. How long will the bad blood last?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

But in the past week, VCs aired their dirty laundry for all the world to see. Still, VCs say they have no choice but to set aside their differences and work together in the future. "Silicon Valley Bank was such a great friend of VCs for so many years that it was just really disappointing to see so many VCs work so quickly to kill it." But in the past week, VCs aired their dirty laundry for all the world to see, criticizing those who they say triggered a $42 billion bank run that doomed SVB. There's been particular animus for Founder's Fund, the venture firm founded by billionaire Peter Thiel that backed Facebook and Airbnb.

Greg Becker, who was the longtime CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, pictured last year. "Looks like Silicon Valley Bank is in some deep shit," Uncommon Capital general partner Jamie Quint tweeted. Startup founders scrambled to get their funds out of Silicon Valley Bank after its collapse. Andreessen Horowitz announced this week that it will continue banking with Silicon Valley Bank "for the foreseeable future" but is crafting a longer-term plan to diversify. Even so, he added, "I think we'd be supportive, as they stabilize, for them to be one of many partners that our founders bank with."

☆ Exclusive: Union Square Ventures warned startup founders in November to diversify their deposit holdings after alarm over Silicon Valley Bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Union Square Ventures warned portfolio companies in November to diversify their bank deposits. The warning, which has not been previously reported, never specifically mentioned SVB. "If you read the SVB financial statements, which most people don't do, you could see an impending liquidity crisis," said one source. Venture investment firm Greenoaks Capital Partners also warned its startup founders of potential problems at SVB last November, Bloomberg reported. In December, a New York banker at a large financial institution started getting calls from current Silicon Valley Bank startup founders asking to open accounts, Insider previously reported.

☆ Peter Thiel's Founders Fund got its cash out of Silicon Valley Bank before it was shut down, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Peter Thiel's Founders Fund withdrew all its funds from Silicon Valley Bank, Bloomberg reported. A source told Bloomberg the PayPal cofounder's fund had moved to close its exposure to the failing bank after running into problems using SVB's services. The venture capital group had been engaging in a "capital call" — where it asked investment partners to send funds to invest in a company — by transferring funds to its Silicon Valley Bank account. Following the withdrawals, the fund no longer had any exposure to SVB as of Thursday morning, the unnamed source told Bloomberg. Founders Fund and SVB didn't immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.

After a bank run of $42 billion in withdrawals, Silicon Valley Bank was shut down by regulators on Friday. The founders were banking at Silicon Valley Bank and wanted to switch banks immediately after being told by their venture investors that the bank was suffering from "liquidity issues." The go-to bank of Silicon ValleySilicon Valley Bank has been a pillar of the startup of ecosystem for four decades, acting as the go-to financial institution for VC fundraising and building strong ties with founders and investors alike. This helped bolster SVB's reputation as the go-to bank of Silicon Valley in the good times, but exacerbated the crisis when it hit Thursday and Friday. "If you're given responsibility to run this iconic Silicon Valley company, you need some humility."

☆ More than 110 VC firms, led by General Catalyst, are banding together in support of Silicon Valley Bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( April Joyner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

More than 110 venture capital firms have signed a statement in support of Silicon Valley Bank. "Silicon Valley Bank has been a trusted and long-time partner to the venture capital industry and our founders," a joint statement from more than 110 firms reads. Hemant Taneja, the CEO of the VC firm General Catalyst, which led the effort to organize support for SVB, tweeted the statement on Friday evening. Alongside General Catalyst, 12 other firms signed the initial statement, including Accel, Greylock, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Upfront Ventures. Some VC firms, including Founders Fund, Y Combinator, and Union Square Ventures, advised their portfolio companies to pull the bulk of their funds out of the bank.

☆ SVB extends 2-day plunge to 86% on report it will seek a sale after failing to raise capital
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Matthew Fox | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The bank failed to complete its $2.3 billion capital raise and is now seeking a sale, according to CNBC. The news comes amid fears of , with several VCs advising their portfolio companies to pull money from the bank. SVB Financial saw a surge in deposits in 2020 and 2021 as valuations for speculative tech and start-up companies soared. The crash in SVB Financial on Thursday dragged down the entire banking sector, and now fears of contagion risk are starting to grow. Shares of SVB Financial were off 95% from its November 2021 record-high of $763.22, with shares trading at about $35 in pre-market trading on Friday.

Venture capital firms on both sides of the Atlantic have been urging their portfolio companies to move money out of embattled lender Silicon Valley Bank, deepening fears of a run on the tech-focused bank. Silicon Valley Bank shares plunged 60% Thursday after disclosing that it needed to shore up its capital with a $2.25 billion equity raise from investors including General Atlantic. Pear VC, an early-stage VC firm based in San Francisco, urged its portfolio network to withdraw funds from SVB on Thursday. The wind-down of crypto-centric Silvergate Bank and pressure on Silicon Valley Bank this week reminded some founders of the 2008 financial crisis, in which banks toppled during the mortgage bust. We are seeing other funds encouraging companies to withdraw their funds from SVB.

☆ Silicon Valley Bank gave the tech industry 40 years. The tech industry couldn't give Silicon Valley Bank 40 hours.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Silicon Valley Bank was shut down by regulators on Friday. Venture capital firms were quick to turn their back on the bank that has served them for decades. As one VC put it to Insider's Ben Bergman, "I don't think Silicon Valley Bank is going under, but I also don't want to be the last one holding the bag." Now, the consequences have extended beyond just SVB, as startups that used the bank worry whether they'll even make payroll next week. A bank that catered to tech startups' specific wants and needs is now gone.

☆ 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.

Transmutex is a nuclear-energy startup based in Geneva, Switzerland. It aims to provide clean, safe nuclear energy using its transmuter solution. Insider has a copy of the pitch deck it used to raise $8 million. The startup's aim is to provide clean nuclear energy by solving the nuclear-waste problem. Insider has a copy of the 17-slide pitch deck Transmutex used to raise the funds.

☆ Musk's yes-men: 5 experts break down why it's difficult to 'speak truth to power.'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Like yesterday, we're continuing with some of the year's best stories from our VC and startups team. Why it's difficult to "speak truth to power." The top VC and startups stories of 2022:Union Square Ventures; 645 Ventures; Race Capital; Mindset Ventures; Marianne Ayala/Insider6. Former Amazon leaders have infiltrated the tech industry. After dominating the VC industry last year, crossover funds spent 2022 pulling back.

☆ 'The music stopped': 6 founders tell how they survived this year's bursting VC funding bubble, customers unwilling to spend, and a graveyard of fallen startup peers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( April Joyner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

This year's economic caution marked a huge contrast to 2021's exuberance and record VC funding. Insider spoke with six founders about how they've handled the abrupt switch from market exuberance to economic caution. But at the same time, they said, they've sought to pounce on new opportunities created by the economic downturn. ElektraShifting landscapes, changing prioritiesAfter a year of record venture capital funding, the abrupt shift in investor sentiment hit hard in 2022, founders told Insider. Artificial intelligence startups are the latest beneficiary of VC hype, buoyed by breakthrough software tools such as DALL-E and ChatGPT.

☆ In a tech downturn, breakout stars of venture capital are going abroad to hunt for funding. Here's why.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The flow of capital motivated more investors to split from established firms and raise their own funds, but it hasn't always been easy. For years they've gone abroad to raise capital from limited partners, mostly wealthy individuals and family offices. This isn't new territory for international investors. He continues to use his personal wealth to back startups and venture funds mostly stateside, including Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Brianne Kimmel's Worklife Ventures. Even those with ties to international investors may struggle to raise funds as fears of a global recession escalate.

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