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☆ Dating Apps Like Hinge, Tinder and Bumble Are Getting Worse - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-16 | by ( Magdalene J. Taylor | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“The golden age of dating apps is over,” a friend told me at a bar on Super Bowl Sunday. As we waited for our drinks, she and another friend swiped through Bumble and Hinge, hunting for new faces and likes. Across the bar were two young men: phones out, apps open, clearly doing the exact same thing. What’s lamentable here isn’t only that dating apps have become the de facto medium through which single people meet. Or maybe the apps have functionally, intentionally gotten worse, as have our romantic prospects.

Persons: ”, swiped, What’s, Cory Doctorow Organizations: Super Locations: U.S

☆ Healthcare deals are picking up as VCs finally reopen their wallets. Here's what they are betting on.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Investors aren't anticipating healthcare funding to surge to anything resembling 2021 levels this year, and fewer deals could mean shutdowns for many companies running low on cash. Multiple healthcare startups have announced raises this year at Series B and beyond. Investors said there's now a higher bar for which startups get venture funding compared to 2021, however. Exits and shutdowns aheadWhile a number of biotech startups have jumped into the public markets already this year, the IPO window for healthcare startups has remained firmly shut. Still, many investors are optimistic that a few healthcare startups will test the waters later this year.

Persons: Anargha Vardhana, There's, they're, Christina Farr, haven't, Richard Drury, Scott Barclay, Shiv Rao, Vardhana, there's, Farr, Sara Choi, Ritankar Das, Supriya Jain, Jain, Barclay Organizations: Business, Insight Partners, Investors, Entrepreneurs, Wing Venture Capital, Boston Consulting Locations: orthopedics

☆ World Wide Web turns 35: Tim Berners-Lee gives predictions for future
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-12 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

Tim Berners-Lee is credited with inventing the World Wide Web in 1989. These are just some of the predictions for the future of the web from the inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, on the 35th anniversary of its invention. Tim Berners-Lee Inventor, World Wide WebBerners-Lee got to continue working on his idea for this information sharing system, and by 1991, the World Wide Web was up and running. When Tim Berners-Lee started work on the World Wide Web 35 years ago, he had no idea it was about to become the ubiquitous force it is today. Tim Berners-Lee Inventor, World Wide Web

Persons: Tim Berners, Lee, Rita Franca, Berners, Fabrice Coffrini, of Berners, Robert Blumofe, Akamai, Blumofe, we'll, Sebastian Derungs, you'll, Chintan Patel, Patel Organizations: CERN, CNBC, AFP, Getty, Microsoft, Samsung, Galaxy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Google, Apple, Afp, Forte Ventures, Akamai, Glasswing Ventures, Cisco, Big Tech, Digital Markets Locations: Swiss, London, Berners, U.S

☆ Startup funding is falling in most major cities. So why is Boston pulling ahead?
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-05 | by ( Melia Russell | Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

AdvertisementThe Bay Area took the lion's share of capital raised on Carta in 2023, followed by Boston, then New York. AdvertisementAccording to Carta data, select metro areas saw the total early-stage funding raised decline by at least a third from 2022 to 2023. Yet early-stage funding was only down 24% in Boston, however, the smallest decrease of the metro areas that Carta tracks. According to Carta data, about $2.6 billion of capital raised in biotech flowed to Boston startups last year. Beyond biotechThe Carta data shows Boston also had strong showings across investment in software-as-a-service and hardware.

Persons: —, Zach Weinberg, Roche, Carta, Founders, that's, Rudina Seseri, Seseri, Peter Walker, Michael Greeley, Greeley, Mark Castleman, Castleman, Clement Cazalot, Cazalot, Walker Organizations: Service, Massachusetts Turnpike, Partners, Business, Carta, Boston, East Coast, Companies, Area, Flare Capital Partners, pharma, Intel Ignite, Glasswing Ventures, Founders, Machinery, Pritzker Group, Armory Square Ventures, Way Ventures, Klaviyo's, New York Stock Exchange Locations: Boston, New York City, East, Boston , Cambridge, Newton , Massachusetts, Newark, Jersey City , New Jersey, New York, San Francisco, Bay, France, Copley

☆ LiveRamp says it will acquire data startup Habu in $200 million deal
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-17 | by ( Lauren Johnson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewPublic data company LiveRamp has agreed to acquire five-year-old startup Habu in a cash and stock deal valued at $200 million. LiveRamp CEO Scott Howe said the deal will help LiveRamp scale and grow partnerships with the cloud companies and platforms that Habu works with — like Google, Meta, and Disney. Habu will help LiveRamp expand its base of small and midsize clients. Habu's capabilities extend beyond marketing, and its clients use its technology to support applications around supply-chain data, healthcare data, and financial services data. Howe said these use cases could help LiveRamp expand its business beyond marketing to help companies manage data more broadly.

Persons: —, LiveRamp, Clark, Habu, Matt Kilmartin, Scott Howe, Howe, Vihan Sharma Organizations: Service, Business, Danone, Google, Asics, PepsiCo, Wing Venture Capital, Snowflake Ventures, Disney Locations: Kimberly

☆ Meet the contrarian VC: Why Mayfield's Navin Chaddha is writing more checks than ever before while other investors pull back
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Vishal Persaud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The longtime VC firm just announced a new $250 million seed fund focused on AI. In tough economic times, the firm's leader, Navin Chaddha, believes it's a prime time to invest. That has essentially been Navin Chaddha's mantra since he took over the reins at venture-capital stalwart Mayfield Fund in 2009. With a dedicated $250 million AI seed war chest, Mayfield is now prepared to lean in even more. "We believe that AI will emerge as our teammate and that the Gen.AI wave will create many iconic companies," Chaddha said in a press release.

Persons: Mayfield, Navin Chaddha, it's, Navin, that's, Chaddha, – who's, Forbes, –, Vijay Reddy, Reddy Organizations: VC, Mayfield Fund, Mayfield, Tiger, Insight Partners, Clear Ventures, Intel Capital, Wing Venture Locations: Bessemer, Sequoia

☆ Potential regulator challenges to Big Tech M&A may have far-reaching consequences for the tech ecosystem
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | April Joyner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

M&A deals involving large tech companies may get harder as US regulators ramp up scrutiny. If regulators increase scrutiny, it could deter other large tech companies from buying startups. More challenges to proposed tech M&A deals may also mean that the pool of potential acquirers shrinks. Of course, there are cases where a large tech company seeks to buy out a smaller, more innovative competitor because it is scared of getting displaced. "There has to be the hope and dream of selling to a larger tech company some day," Sherman said.

☆ Here's the 8-page pitch deck that a startup helping government contractors navigate subcontractor compliance used to raise $2.5 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Paige Hagy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

GovForce is a software startup that helps government contractors with compliance. GovForce used this 8-page pitch deck to raise a $2.5 million seed round. This software startup is helping government contractors keep tabs on the companies it outsources work to. GovForce offers government contractors software that allows them to continually monitor the compliance of its subcontractors through a dashboard. Read the 8-page pitch deck GovForce used to raise a $2.5 million seed round.

☆ Stripe, Instacart, and Reddit valuations fare better in Fidelity's latest filings, but it's still a sobering reminder of how far the tech market has tumbled
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Stripe, Instacart, and Reddit fared better month-over-month in Fidelity's latest holdings report. The valuations of Stripe, Instacart, and Reddit all fared better in Fidelity's latest monthly holdings report, with Stripe seeing an over 20% bump from the previous month, according to recent filings. Although promising, the new valuations still serve as a sobering reminder of how far the tech industry has fallen from its 2021 highs. Faced with a muted welcome from the private markets, Stripe might not be the only company looking to the public markets for liquidity. But the public markets may prove more pain.

☆ We got an exclusive look at the pitch deck that edtech startup Ignite! Reading used to raise $10 million from Rethink and Citadel founder Ken Griffin
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

So far, Ignite says students have learned to read 2.4 times faster than before with its lesson plan. Reading, a virtual tutoring startup that helps children from grades K-8 learn how to read through targeted, one-on-one sessions with an online tutor. While other tutoring companies like Varsity Tutors and GoStudent offer online tutoring and reading assistance, Ignite! Reading focuses specifically on teaching children the processes of reading and comprehension, with a main goal of reaching 1st grade students. Reading, tutors meet with students every day one on one virtually for 15 minutes a day, with a total teaching time of 75 minutes a week.

☆ See the 12-slide presentation that a health-insurance startup used to land $58 million after its public competitors tumbled
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Angle Health wants to use tech to transform health insurance where other upstarts have failed. Angle Health raised $58 million to disrupt employer-sponsored health benefits using this pitch deck. Companies like Oscar Health, Clover Health, and Bright Health raked in investor cash on the promise that they could transform health plans with tech, and each went public in 2021 at a lofty valuation. Angle Health provided Insider with the pitch deck it used to raise $58 million in Series A funding from Portage and other investors. Here's the pitch deck Angle Health used to land a $58 million Series A.

☆ Small businesses are saving the economy from a recession, for now
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins | Madison Hoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Data shows a boom in small businesses likely to employ workers, suggesting job growth could keep going well into the future. Small businesses have seen their openings soar, compared to larger businesses, from where they stood before the pandemic. While openings for small businesses are not as high as they were in spring 2022, there still are more openings in these kinds of businesses than big ones. Yet Swonk remains optimistic that small businesses will prevail. "Although small businesses fail at a much higher rate than any other businesses out there, I have some hope in the traction that they've already gained," she said.

☆ Small businesses are saving the economy from a recession for now
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins | Madison Hoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

☆ Exclusive: Ex-Tiger Global partner John Curtius to raise $1 billion for new venture capital fund -source
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Krystal Hu | Shadia Nasralla | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 30 (Reuters) - John Curtius, a former partner at investment firm Tiger Global, is in talks with institutional investors to raise $1 billion for his new venture fund Cedar Investment Management, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. The fund will focus on investing in early stage enterprise software companies in the United States and Europe, the source added, requesting anonymity while discussing private matters. If closed, the fund will likely be one of the largest new funds raised by first-time fund managers amid a slowing venture capital market. Curtius joined Tiger from Elliott Management in 2017 and had been running enterprise software investment at the prolific tech investment firm that has $125 billion in asset under management. His portfolio of tech companies includes security software SentinelOne (S.N) and unicorns such as data infrastructure firm Databricks and cybersecurity company Snyk.

☆ The 13 most promising early-stage artificial-intelligence startups of 2022, according to VCs investing in companies building technical infrastructure and developing tools
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Venture capitalists investing in AI identified the promising startups at earlier fundraising stages. These 13 AI startups are making tools that try to help companies make better use of data. Kim-Mai Cutler, a partner at Initialized Capital, said VCs are seeing potential in the startups able to develop new applications. Top VCs shared with Insider their picks for startups in their earlier stages that they see as demonstrating the most potential. Here are the 13 most promising AI startups of 2022, according to VCs, listed from least to most capital raised:

Insider asked 12 top VCs what ad and marketing tech companies excited them the most this year. Check out the 19 most promising adtech startups, and what they do that makes them unique. It hopes to raise a Series A funding round in the coming months. Emperia is currently raising its next funding round. Why it's on the list: Tech companies are being scrutinized for their wasting energy consumption, and the digital advertising industry is no exception.

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