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☆ Meet Boston's new power venture capitalist
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

A changing of the guard is underway at Boston-based venture capital firm Underscore VC. The venture capitalist, wearing a cherry red cardigan and Apple Watch, cracked open a notebook and set it beside an iced coffee. Underscore VCLyman's Facebook credentials could have given her a ticket to many venture firms located down the road in Menlo Park. "The thesis is that if you get the right people around the business at the right time, it'll change the trajectory of the business," Lyman said. As Lyman steps up, so does UnderscoreUnderscore is moving into its next phase during a reckoning for venture capital.

Persons: Lily Lyman, —, Mike Greene, Marley, Lyman, Greene, she's, Michael Skok, John Pearce, Lyman —, Lily, they're, Skok, Alessandra Henderson, Pamela Aldsworth, Jeff Bussgang, Hi Marley, Gordon Ritter, Kevin Bacon, There's, Ritter Organizations: Service, Harvard University, Facebook, House, Apple Watch, Elektra Health, JPMorgan, New England Venture Capital Association, MIT, Allston Venture Fund, Harvard, Boston's, Capital Partners, OpenView Venture Partners, SEC, Old, Capital Locations: Boston, Old, Menlo Park

☆ Nashville's startup scene is booming. Here's why investors and founders are moving to 'Music City'
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Ashley Capoot | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - SEPTEMBER 1, 2019: Tourists visit the bars and country music venues in the Lower Broadway entertainment district in Nashville, Tennessee. As more investors and founders are flocking to explore Nashville's booming health care and technology scene, Shah said he gets recognized regularly. (Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesNicknamed "Music City," Nashville is chock-full of country singers and perpetually buzzing with live music. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images) Robert Alexander | Archive Photos | Getty ImagesNashville's health tech startup scene has also benefited from significant investment from local organizers and government officials. Eligible Nashville entrepreneurs can also become members of the Greater Nashville Technology Council and the Nashville Health Care Council.

Persons: Robert Alexander, Robin Shah, Shah, Pavlo Gonchar, Kyle Cooksey, Bill Frist, Cooksey, John Bass, Bass, Ellen Herlacher, Luke Benda, it's, Cerner, It's, Vanderbilt, Marcus Whitney, Whitney, Benda, Landon Gibbs, Gibbs, Raelyn Wilson, Wilson Organizations: Tourists, Broadway, Getty, Thyme, CNBC, Nashville, Nashville Health Care, Healthcare, HCA, Community Health Systems, Acadia Healthcare, Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Belmont University, Meharry Medical, Monogram Health, Downtown, Istock, Amazon, Oracle, Bank, Greater Nashville Venture Capital Association, Center, Nashville Area, of Commerce, Force, Ventures, Greater, Greater Nashville Technology Council, Nashville Health Care Council, HCA Healthcare Locations: NASHVILLE , TENNESSEE, Nashville , Tennessee, Fort Lauderdale , Florida, Nashville, UKRAINE, U.S, Acadia, Downtown Nashville , Tennessee, Music City, Rocky, Colorado, Boston, Greater Nashville, Cumberland

☆ Britain tells pension funds change needed to improve returns
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The government wants to persuade pension schemes to invest some of their funds in infrastructure as well as startups and green technology. Ten companies have now voluntarily committed to invest 5% of their pension funds, or about 50 billion pounds in total, in unlisted companies by 2030. "I think we have got too many pension funds in this country, and I do want to see an industry where we end up with fewer, larger funds," Hunt told an event to take stock of the initiative. He said he wanted to see larger funds with the confidence to invest in growth companies. Delfas said fewer, larger and well run schemes were needed, and it was time to consolidate pension funds that lack expertise, scale and appetite to deliver better returns to savers into funds that do.

Persons: Jeremy Hunt, Hunt, Aon, Delfas, Huw Jones, Sachin Ravikumar, Jane Merriman Organizations: Insurance, British Private Equity, Venture Capital Association, British Business Bank, Pensions, Thomson Locations: Britain

☆ New York is a tech startup hotbed after almost a decade-long run of IPOs
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

New York had its share of startup investors and venture-backed companies, but it wasn't a hotbed of tech activity. After four years at the company, Wang left but chose to stay in New York to launch Bearworks, providing software to sales reps. In 2014, prior to the run of New York City IPOs, California was the leader, followed by Massachusetts and then New York. During the record fundraising year of 2021, New York startups received almost $50 billion across 1,935 companies. Northern California has long been the heartbeat of the tech industry, but Murat Bicer remembers what it was like for New York startups before the rush.

Persons: Olivier Pomel, Albert Wang, Datadog, Wang, UiPath, they've, San Francisco's OpenAI, Murat Bicer, Bicer, Datadog's, Pomel Organizations: Datadog, Big Apple, Nasdaq, National Venture Capital Association . Massachusetts, ChatGPT, Investors, Bay, RTP Ventures, RTP, Boston, Index Ventures, New York Times Locations: San Francisco, New York, Boston, Datadog, York, San Francisco Bay, East Coast, Yorkers, , New York, California, New York City IPOs , California, Massachusetts, San Francisco's, PitchBook . Northern California, Silicon Valley, West, West Coast, Europe, Pomel

Signage is seen at the headquarters of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 12, 2021. SEC Chair Gary Gensler said the rules will increase transparency and competition in the private funds industry, which oversees around $20 trillion in assets and has been accused by advocacy groups of opacity and conflicts of interest. The changes require private funds to issue quarterly fee and performance reports and to perform annual audits. Bryan Corbett, chief executive officer of the Managed Funds Association (MFA), said the rules will increase costs for investors and curb competition, he added. The other petitioners are the National Venture Capital Association, American Investment Council, Alternative Investment Management Association, National Association of Private Fund Managers and the Loan Syndications & Trading Association.

Persons: Andrew Kelly, Gary Gensler, Bryan Corbett, Carolina Mandl, Jonathan Oatis, Peter Graff, Cynthia Osterman Organizations: U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, Washington , D.C, REUTERS, Friday, Funds, U.S, Circuit, Appeals, National Venture Capital Association, American Investment Council, Alternative Investment Management Association, National Association of Private Fund, Trading Association, Gensler's SEC, Thomson Locations: Washington ,, New York

☆ MaC Venture Capital hires TCG veteran Jennifer Randle as its first chief operating officer
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

MaC Venture Capital has hired Jennifer Randle as its first COO. In less than three years, MaC Venture Capital has become a presence in the tech ecosystem that cannot be ignored. Jennifer Randle, a finance and operations veteran, has joined MaC as its first chief operating officer — a sign of a maturing firm with more personnel and funds to manage. In this role, Randall will support firm operations from finance and accounting to investor relations and IT. In April of 2023, according to data gathered by Venture Forward, Deloitte, and the National Venture Capital Association, Black investors made up only 4% of investment partners with decision-making responsibilities.

Persons: Jennifer Randle, Randle, MaC, —, Randall, Peter Chernin, That's, Marlon Nichols, Nichols Organizations: MaC Venture Capital, Chernin, nab, MaC, Capital Partners, KPMG, Venture, Deloitte, National Venture Capital Association Locations: America, Mansa

☆ US startups are having a bad year. Relief isn’t coming
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Across the country, in Silicon Valley, the situation isn’t quite as good. For decades Silicon Valley has been a dominant contributor to the US economy and an integral part of the country’s culture. Bankruptcy filings…less so.”Pitchbook and The National Venture Capital Association’s most recent report on the industry also takes a pessimistic view of the situation. What it means: While startups are certainly far from extinct, there has been a serious culling in Silicon Valley that will likely continue on for some time. Just 19% of venture capital deals were made with startups based in the Bay Area this year; that’s down from 22% in 2020.

Persons: haven’t, Tom Loverro, IVP, Pitchbook, ”, dealmakers, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, they’ll, they’re, Elizabeth Warren, Tesla, Elon Musk, Ramishah Maruf, Elon, “, ” Warren, funneling Tesla, Warren, Gary Gensler, Linda Yaccarino, Musk, CNN’s Justin Gamble, Bill Clinton, Jonah Bryson, “ We’ve, Michael D, Smith Organizations: CNN Business, Bell, New York CNN, Apple, Microsoft, Venture, National Venture Capital, Goldman, Center for Research, Bank, SEC, Twitter, Securities and Exchange, AmeriCorps, CNN Locations: New York, Silicon Valley, Silicon, Massachusetts, America

☆ Seed funding valuations sprout a bubble
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Anita Ramaswamy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Their need for new cash was nearly three times higher than the available supply last quarter, according to the report. Companies raising seed rounds in today’s market might command higher prices in part because they are better prepared. But it’s unlikely that today’s cohort of seed-stage startups is so markedly superior to predecessors that it warrants record high prices. A newfound focus on seed companies could just be VCs’ latest justification for keeping the tech bubble afloat. Median valuations for venture rounds in startups at all other stages captured by the report have fallen this year relative to their 2022 levels.

Persons: PitchBook, Lauren Silva Laughlin, Sharon Lam Organizations: YORK, Reuters, Venture, National Venture Capital Association, Carta, Tiger Global, Thomson

☆ Nearly half of startups backed by some of the UK and Europe's top VC funds have zero women on the board, trailing bigger firms
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Almost half of startups backed by top UK and European VC firms lack female board members, data shows. It means startups trail the 350 biggest listed UK firms, which hit 40% female board representation. Startups, though often promising to disrupt the status quo, are well behind larger firms when it comes to female leadership. Nearly half of startups currently backed by top UK and European venture capital firms lack any women on the board, new figures show. The data comes from 16 VC firms in the UK and Europe and covers 450 companies in their portfolios.

Persons: ESG_VC, Henry Philipson, Philipson, Michelle You, there's Organizations: European, Molten Ventures, Beringea, MMC, British Private Equity, Venture Capital Association, Investors Locations: Highland, Europe

☆ California pension fund looks to boost venture capital investments despite startup market turmoil
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

California's giant public pension fund is looking to increase its venture capital exposure in the coming months, despite a swoon in the startup market and lackluster performance of late by the fund's VC portfolio. Between 2000 and 2020, CalPERS underperformed the venture market, according to a PitchBook report, notching annual returns of 0.49%. In the last year, while CalPERS' PE portfolio returned −4.7%, CalPERS' venture investment performance came in at −24.8%. The pension fund's investments have skewed to the public market and to so-called "real assets," such as property. WATCH: Pension funds venture investments

Persons: Anton Orlich, Orlich, CalPERS Organizations: California Public Employees, National Venture Capital Association, Venture Locations: −

☆ Researchers found a surefire predictor of success — and what separates those who find it from those who keep failing
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Susie Allen | Kellogg Insight | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Using this insight, the researchers are able to successfully predict an individual's long-term success with just a small amount of information about that person's initial attempts. Indeed, in another recent study, Wang himself found that an early career setback often set up scientists for later success. In all three datasets, an individual's second-to-last attempt did tend have a higher probability of success than their very first effort. Rather, there's a singular learning threshold that separates eventual successes from the rest. "Thomas Edison said, 'people give up because they don't know how close they are to success,'" Wang explains.

☆ CEO of fitness band maker Whoop mocks the demise of Amazon's Halo health device
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Annie Palmer | In Annierpalmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The CEO of Whoop, a fitness band favored by athletes, is claiming victory over Amazon after the e-retailer pulled the plug on its line of Halo devices. Amazon said last week it will discontinue its Halo health and fitness devices, and shut down the Halo program, resulting in some employees being let go. Whoop CEO Will Ahmed said he views the demise of Halo as a win for his startup. He claimed the Halo wristband, which tracks users' physical activity, sleep and mood, was a knockoff of Whoop's own device. Whoop launched its first product, the Whoop 1.0, in 2015.

☆ These are the 7 best large U.S. cities for starting a new business—New York and D.C. don't fare well
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Launching a small business is a challenge, especially these days. The top four cities on the ranking are all Floridian, largely due to criteria like low unemployment and relatively low corporate tax rates. Florida ranked 11th on CNBC's own list of the top U.S. states for businesses in 2022, for similar reasons. For those who don't want to move to Florida, cities like Durham and Boise offer bona fide alternatives. Join CNBC's Small Business Playbook virtually on May 4th, where entrepreneurs will share advice and tips on how to handle economic uncertainty, inflation and more so your business can succeed for the short-term and the long-term.

☆ ChatGPT and Generative AI: Our Guide to 2023's Most Talked-About Technology
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Insider Intelligence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

ChatGPT brought generative AI into the limelight when it hit 1 million users in five days. We unpack what you need to know: How does generative AI work? But an estimated 450 startups and several new funds for generative AI indicate a hot market and high hopes for growth. Copywriters, designers, coders, photo and video editors, and even strategists now have access to generative AI tools that can simplify their day-to-day tasks. Want to learn more about ChatGPT and Generative AI?

☆ Tech employees should expect more debloating even after 330,000 jobs got wiped
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Twitter have collectively chopped around 70,000 staff — but ongoing concerns about profitability and over-hiring means they could slim down more. Google and Amazon should cut more jobs: analystsAnalysts note that Google, for example, added around 71,000 employees in the past three years. They say Meta has seen "limited impact on its growth" after laying off around 25% of its workforce since November. The bank's analysts say that profitability per employee at Amazon excluding its warehouse workers — a measure of its efficiency — is "significantly below peers." With less cash available, cuts will likely persist and workers in tech should brace for more instability this year.

In the short-term, regulators have found a solution for Silicon Valley Bank depositors and, we hope, calmed the fears of a wider run on regional banks. The much admired U.S. system for producing innovation has just received a body blow, and the turmoil that led to the death of Silicon Valley Bank isn't over. Silicon Valley Bank, founded in 1983, was born in a time when Silicon Valley was a synonym for "tech" and "innovation." SVB was the crown jewel of banks and the venture capital industry, not just in Silicon Valley, but globally. It's easy to picture these as large firms, and a tiny handful of famous venture firms have hundreds of employees.

More than a decade later, those that heeded this advice went on to become game-changing tech behemoths, including CNBC Disruptor 50 companies Block , Pinterest , Slack, Twilio , and Cloudera. Seed rounds had a record deal value in 2022, and valuations continued to grow even as late-stage venture companies nearer to the public market suffered. Venture funds raised a record amount of money in 2022, with $162.8 billion closed across 769 funds, according to PitchBook and the NVCA. We've seen companies struggle as public companies and then skyrocket, so a lower value-IPO is not the end of the road." "But when you can generate new share in a difficult market, when the market does turn, they are in a perfect position to capture more market share and customers."

☆ The tech IPO market collapsed in 2022, and next year doesn't look much better
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Ari Levy | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

The Stockholm-based company raised financing at a $6.7 billion valuation this year, an 85% discount to its prior valuation of $46 billion. Butler doesn't expect the IPO market to get appreciably better in 2023. Butler also thinks that Silicon Valley has to adapt to a shift away from the growth-first mindset before the IPO market picks up again. Butler said he expects this "cultural reset" to take a couple more quarters and said, "that makes me remain pessimistic on the IPO market." Databricks raised $1.6 billion at a $38 billion valuation in August of 2021, near the market's peak.

☆ Women in venture capital are writing the rules of maternity leave and bending the male-dominated culture to their will
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Melia Russell | Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

And with more women entering the male-dominated venture industry, firms are being forced to craft maternity leave policies on the fly to accommodate new mothers. Forty years ago, the clubby male world of venture capital admitted so few women that maternity leave as a benefit was effectively nonexistent. "There is no playbook about how to take maternity leave or raise a family while also accelerating your career as an investor." Lux CapitalLike in many male-dominated industries, maternity leave as a benefit for investors doesn't come up in conversation until someone needs it. Though, the best policies, investors said, give women choices about how they operate on leave, rather than prescribing a one-size-fits-all leave.

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