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☆ VCs are fighting, investors are annoyed, and the presidential election has become a constant distraction that Silicon Valley just wants to be over
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-24 | by ( Ben Bergman | Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. She didn't sign, not because she doesn't support Harris (she does) but because she sees no upside in broadcasting her political intentions. The former president has also received endorsements from famous VCs Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, Doug Leone, and David Sacks. Now, executives are waiting until after the election concludes to make any decision, according to a source familiar with the matter. Publicly supporting candidates has no upside for LPs, especially considering many LPs have their own agendas, added a VC.

Persons: —, Kamala, Kamala Harris, Harris, We're, Joe Biden, David Hornik, Israel —, There's, Leslie Feinzaig, VCs, Elon Musk, Trump, Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, Doug Leone, David Sacks, Reid Hoffman, Reed Hastings, Ron Conway, Graham, Walker, MAGA, they're, Divya Kakkad, Sacks, Jesse Middleton, Middleton, Cameron Lester, Lester, tradespeople, ServiceTitan, I've Organizations: Service, Business, San Francisco, Lobby Capital, August, Republicans, Israel, Netflix, Graham, Craft Ventures, Jefferies, Publicly Locations: San, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Bay, New York

Andreessen and Horowitz are the latest and most prominent members of the startup investing community to publicly support Trump. Up until now, there have been pockets of vocal Trump support within Silicon Valley, including conservative provocateur Peter Thiel, the pugnacious hosts of the All-In podcast, and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale. WE HAVE A FORMER TECH VC IN THE WHITE HOUSE. Most of the VCs Business Insider spoke to were unanimously against Kahn. "If it is Biden vs. Trump officially, I think many '"never Trumpers" will go with Trump," said a Bay Area VC.

Persons: —, Andreessen Horowitz, Ben Horowitz, Marc Andreessen, Donald Trump, Sen, JD Vance, Peter Thiel's, Steve Case, Andreessen, Horowitz, provocateur Peter Thiel, Palantir, Joe Lonsdale, Elon Musk, who's, Joe Biden, Vance, Trump, IT'S JD VANCE, WE, MAGA, he's, Bradley Tusk, Chuck Schumer, Tusk, Lina Khan, That's, what's, Kahn, Lina Kahn, Khan, Biden, they're, David Hornik Organizations: Service, The Little, Business, Trump, Wall Street, Founder's Fund, TECH, Democratic, Biden, FTC, SEC, Bay, Republican, Sequoia Capital, Lobby Locations: America, Silicon Valley, New York, Delian, San Francisco, Silicon, There's

☆ 'The scholar, the pragmatist, and the rainmaker:' How three Bloomberg Beta VCs bet on AI before it became a buzzword
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Bahat brings this same radical directness to Bloomberg Beta, the early-stage venture capital fund housed within the larger Bloomberg empire that he's run for the past decade. And Bloomberg Beta was making investments in generative AI as far back as 2015, before the term "generative AI" even existed. "It felt like we were just waiting for the right moment," said Cham, Bloomberg Beta partner and de-facto chief technologist, "where the rest of the world would see it." Bloomberg Beta made the decision early on to publish its entire operating manual on GitHub, including sensitive information about average check size and investment criteria. Kieran Snyder, the founder of generative AI startup Textio which Bloomberg Beta invested in in 2015, has a shorthand for describing the role of Beta's three partners.

Persons: Roy Bahat's, Bahat, James Cham, Karin Klein, Shivon Zillis, Elon Musk's, Cham, ChatGPT, VCs, Bloomberg Beta, Dan Doctoroff, Mike Bloomberg, Doctoroff, Bahat's chutzpah, Bloomberg —, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Tade Oyerinde, Sam Altman, Peter Thiel's Founder's, Roy didn't, Oyerinde, Kieran Snyder, who's, Apple Lisa, Klein, Karen, Snyder, Roy, Zilis Organizations: Port Authority, World Trade Center, IGN, Bloomberg Beta, Bloomberg, LinkedIn, Elon, Beta, Apple, New Locations: New York, Silicon Valley, East, California

☆ Fintech firm Ramp raises $300 mln at lowered valuation of $5.8 bln
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Aug 22 (Reuters) - Ramp, a developer of financial management software, has raised $300 million in its latest funding round to accelerate expansion in new categories, the company said on Tuesday, notching up a valuation of $5.8 billion. The new funding is at a lower valuation from the $8.1 billion achieved by the New-York based startup in a funding round last year, a spokesperson of the company confirmed. The latest funding round was co-led by Thrive Capital and Sands Capital along with existing investors Founder's Fund and General Catalyst among others. Previous investors in the fintech include Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) CEO Satya Nadella, Goldman Sachs (GS.N), Redpoint Ventures and Thrive Capital. The financial management company intends to expand its software into adjacent categories in an attempt to make customer's businesses more "efficient", said Chief Executive Officer Eric Glyman.

Persons: Satya Nadella, Goldman Sachs, Eric Glyman, Pritam Biswas, Shailesh Organizations: New, Sands Capital, Founder's Fund, Catalyst, Microsoft Corp, Redpoint Ventures, Thomson Locations: York, Bengaluru

☆ 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.

☆ Silicon Valley Bank's collapse sent this tech founder into a 3-day panic, leading him to question: 'Am I good enough to do what I do?'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Tech CEO Alexander Torrenegra detailed his experience as he watched Silicon Valley Bank collapse. Ask my wife, Tania, to wire all of our personal money out to other banks. By Friday morning, SVB stock had fallen 60%, and US regulators assumed control of the bank. Meanwhile, he said only a "portion" of his personal savings was safe as the transaction was still in a bank queue. "We may recover most of the money," Torrenegra wrote regarding his personal savings.

☆ 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.

☆ Limiting volatility has driven Clarkston Founders fund to outperform in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The Clarkston Founders Institutional Fund has always tried to avoid volatility. The Founder's Fund has lost about 2.8% in 2022, notably outperforming other mid-cap value funds, which are down an average 7.2%, and a Morningstar benchmark index, which is lower by 5.6%, all through Dec. 9. As a result, the $610-million fund has a below average beta — a measurement of volatility relative to the broad market — of 0.85, according to Morningstar, versus 1.08 for all mid-cap value funds. The fund ranks in the 15th percentile of all mid-cap value funds in 2022, and is in the 23rd percentile over the past five years. Clarkston's investment policy emphasizes what it calls "quality value" stocks, regarded as high quality and considered undervalued relative to their long-term cash flows.

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