DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Bank of America makes $500 million equity push for minority- and women-led funds
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Yuheng Zhan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Bank of America has committed to giving more than $500 million in equity investments to minority- and women-led fund managers to support diverse entrepreneurs, the bank announced Thursday in a press release. The program started in 2020 and so far, more than 150 funds have used the equity to invest in upward of 1,000 companies, collectively controlling $7 billion of capital, Bank of America said. This translates to support for 1,500 diverse entrepreneurs and the employment of more than 21,000 people. Bank of America is also separately working with the National Football League and National Black Bank Foundation to support Black- and minority-owned banks, CNBC's Frank Holland reported. "We're very focused on supporting our fund managers," Nguyen said.

Persons: Nguyen, Gabrielle Fonrouge, CNBC's Frank Holland Organizations: of America, Bank of America, National Football League, National Black Bank Foundation Locations: Crunchbase

☆ A startup 'mass extinction event' has begun. You can't see it clearly yet, but it's going to be bad.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Alistair Barr | Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Startups raised a ridiculous amount of money in recent years through 2021. Startup failure rate is beginning to increase, from artificially low levels in 2021, and there could be a wave of capitulation in the next year where an unusually large number of startups shut down. There was a frenzy of investment, where startups raised massive amounts of money and some businesses got funding that maybe shouldn't have. The money spigot has run dryNow, the money spigot has run dry (except if you're an AI startup). There was so much money raised in recent years that startups have a lot of runway to survive.

Persons: Tom Loverro, Klarna, Loverro, VCs, spigot, pare, We'll, Melia Russell Organizations: Venture, Street Journal, Tiger Global

☆ European tech fund EQT Growth set to poach investor from Goldman Sachs who will join as a new partner, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

European venture fund EQT is set to hire a Goldman Sachs investor as a partner, Insider understands. A managing director from Goldman Sachs Growth Equity is set to join the fund, sources say. An investor at Goldman Sachs' startup investment arm is set to depart the banking giant to join up with Swedish private equity and venture firm EQT Growth, Insider understands. Kirk Lepke, a London-based managing director at Goldman Sachs Growth Equity, is primed to be poached by the Stockholm investor, two sources familiar with the matter said. Both EQT Growth and Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Kirk Lepke, Lepke, EQT, Mollie, Lepke's, Julien Bek Organizations: Goldman Sachs Growth Equity, Goldman, DoorDash, Torch, Summit Partners, Apple Locations: Europe, London, Stockholm, New York, Boston, Lithuanian, Crunchbase

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Apple Vision Pro, Big Tech's big AI salaries, and Marc Andreessen's plan to save the world
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Apple Vision Pro. Apple's Vision Pro looks amazing, but why buy it? The Vision Pro also comes with a host of caveats beyond the price tag, such as a battery life of just two hours. Read more about the Apple Vision Pro's limits here. He said AI companies should be able to build fast and aggressively — and without regulation.

Persons: Nathan Rennolds, let's, Tony Fadell, Apple, Salesforce's Marc Benioff, Justin Sullivan, Marc Benioff, Marc Andreessen, Travis Kalanick's, Adam Beswick, he's, grads, Z, Leigh Thompson, Jack Sommers Organizations: Apple Vision, Apple, Companies, Meta, Sony, Getty, Salesforce, Amazon, Oracle, Big Tech, CloudKitchens, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Sequoia Capital, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University Locations: London

☆ 3 California universities are in the top 10 for churning out startup founders who have gotten funding since 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Vishal Persaud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Stanford, UCLA and USC are in the top 10 schools with grads who have gotten private startup funding. Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Southern California rank among some of the top schools to produce startup founders that recently got private funding, according to Crunchbase. Other California-based colleges to make the list of schools include the University of California, Los Angeles, University of California, San Diego, and the California Institute of Technology. The data also details the business schools that some of the startup founders attended. The fact that hundreds of new startup founders have been able to secure funding is a bit surprising considering the current state of the venture capital industry.

Persons: grads, Crunchbase, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Apple, Steve Wozniak, Gordon Moore, Marc Benioff, That's Organizations: Stanford, UCLA, USC, Morning, Stanford University, University of California, University of Southern, Berkeley, Los Angeles , University of California, California Institute of Technology, Stanford Business School, UCLA Anderson School of Management, Haas School of Business, Google, Intel, Salesforce, Tech, Venture Locations: Six California, Berkeley, University of Southern California, California, Los Angeles, San Diego, North America

☆ Sequoia bolsters London office with sixth partner hire as VC firm unveils radical restructure
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Venture capital firm Sequoia has hired a sixth partner for its London office, Insider understands. Venture capital firm Sequoia has bolstered its presence in Europe with the hire of its sixth partner in London, Insider understands. "Since Julien joined us as an associate five years ago, he's become a valued member of our London team," Accel partner Sonali De Rycker said. Sequoia will expand in Europe despite a broader contraction in venture capital funding to European startups. Sequoia has closed 21 deals in Europe in the three years since it opened in London, Crunchbase data shows.

Persons: Julien Bek, Accel's Luciana Lixandru, Sequoia's Lixandru, Bek, Julien, he's, Sonali De Rycker, Slay, Matt Miller, George Robson, Anas Organizations: Sequoia, . Venture, Apple, Accel, London, Investment, Investments, Trade Republic, Global Founders Capital, Revolut Locations: Sequoia, Europe, London, California, China, India, Southeast Asia, Geneva, Switzerland, Lixandru

☆ The $500 million robot pizza startup you never heard of has shut down, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A robot pizza startup that raised almost $500 million has shut down, The Information reported. Zume, the robot pizza delivery startup that raised close to $500 million, has shut down, The Information reported. The company was founded in 2015 and aimed to automate the pizza-making process, but suffered a series of technological difficulties. According to The Information, Zume was "insolvent," and Sherwood Partners, a restructuring firm, had been instructed to sell the company's assets. It made a series of layoffs in 2020, cutting headcount by more than 500 employees — including all of its robotics and food-delivery truck business, Insider previously reported.

Persons: Zume, Alex Garden Organizations: Softbank, AME Cloud Ventures, Sherwood Partners, Bloomberg

☆ This Gen Z founder made an OnlyFans rival that has no nudity and sold it for $65 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

He said it sold for $65 million after sites including TikTok "failed" to help creators make money. The 22-year-old certainly doesn't need to live with his folks: He became a millionaire last year after his company, Fanfix, sold for $65 million, according to Crunchbase. It's a model broadly similar to OnlyFans, but with a major difference: it doesn't allow nudity. When SuperOrdinary bought Fanfix, Insider's Geoff Weiss reported that there were plans for product collaborations with the platform's creators. And they took advantage of the creators, and so a massive gap opened up for platforms like Patreon, platforms like us."

☆ Walmart will offer pet telehealth in latest bid to compete with Amazon
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Gabrielle Fonrouge | In Gabrielle-Fonrouge | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesWalmart is jumping into the burgeoning pet telehealth market. Unlimited access to veterinary telehealth via video or text will be available to Walmart+ subscribers beginning on Tuesday, when Walmart is expected to announce the partnership publicly. Walmart's expansion into pet telehealth signals the largest U.S. retailer is ready to grow its share of the market. Traditional pet-only retailers like Chewy and Petco have already been investing in pet health care to better compete with big-box stores. Others have argued pet telehealth helps bridge the access to care as pet owners contend with a nationwide veterinary shortage and swaths of pet health deserts across rural America.

☆ Lab-grown breast milk startup Biomilq aims to change infant nutrition — if it can release a product
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Natasha Piñon | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Biomilq, the company behind the breakthrough, had been working for nearly a decade to replicate the process of making human milk — but outside of the body. While the crisis has highlighted the importance of a resilient formula supply, human milk experts, milk bank advocates and Biomilq all stress the same message: Breast milk is best. The startup will likely take a "gradual approach" to introducing its science via "an early-life nutrition product in partnership with one of these bigger companies," Strickland explained. Breast milk is woefully understudied — to the point that it's difficult "to even say what human milk is from a nutritional standpoint," Perrin explained. The company is researching which aspects of human milk its system is best suited to produce.

☆ This company could take lab-grown meat mainstream thanks to a green light from the FDA
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Natasha Piñon | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

Upside Foods' pivotal moment also comes at a key moment in the alternative meat industry. The cultivated-meat industry could have a wider consumer base than previously introduced alternative meat products, because unlike plant-based meats, it's "real" meat — minus the slaughtered animals. And, accordingly, some traditional meat companies have expressed interest in the burgeoning cultivated-meat industry, which one day could become a competitor. The cultivated-meat industry will need a similar boost if it's ever going to become a grocery store staple, Swartz said. The FDA's clearance was a voluntary premarket consultation, which means the agency has no further questions about the safety of Upside's products.

☆ Exclusive: $38 billion data and AI darling Databricks acquires security startup Okera
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Data and AI company Databricks is acquiring data security startup Okera. Recently, customers have increasingly asked about data security when creating custom AI models. In 2015 and 2016, software engineer Nong Li spent a number of months at data and AI startup Databricks. Databricks plans to integrate Okera deeply in the company, specifically as part of its data and AI governance offering, Unity Catalog, Ghodsi said. Today, Unity Catalog is Databricks' number one priority as it looks to build the end-to-end platform for data, analytics, and AI, Ghodsi said.

☆ How 2 longtime Warner Bros. execs and a veteran media banker plan to invest $360 million in sports, live experiences, and proven IP
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Alex Iosilevich, Kevin Tsujihara, and Jeff Bewkes raised $360 million to invest in media, entertainment, and gaming. "Today it's television, tomorrow it's virtual reality," Alex Iosilevich, a longtime media banker and investor, told Insider. The trio announced April 27 that they raised $360 million for their first private equity fund to invest in media, entertainment, and gaming companies. Bewkes was chairman and CEO of Time Warner; he left as part of AT&T's 2016 acquisition of the company. With the market for subscription-based streaming services getting saturated, streaming companies will have to look more aggressively for new audiences through overseas expansion, ad-supported tiers, and new entertainment content.

☆ Three media veterans just raised $360 million to invest in sports, live experiences, and proven IP — trends that are 'permanent' even as streamers struggle for profits and consumers churn
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Alex Iosilevich, Kevin Tsujihara, and Jeff Bewkes raised $360 million to invest in media, entertainment, and gaming. "Today it's television, tomorrow it's virtual reality," Alex Iosilevich, a longtime media banker and investor, told Insider. The trio announced April 27 that they raised $360 million for their first private equity fund to invest in media, entertainment, and gaming companies. And Iosilevich's resume includes more than a decade of media dealmaking at UBS, Deutsche Bank, and Barclays. With the market for subscription-based streaming services getting saturated, streaming companies will have to look more aggressively for new audiences through overseas expansion, ad-supported tiers, and new entertainment content.

☆ 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.

☆ Upfront's Mark Suster has become the star of LA's booming startup scene. Not everyone is a fan.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +29 min

"I have worked with more than 50 VCs and nobody comes close to what it is like to work with Mark Suster," said a founder backed by Suster. "Mark and the Upfront Summit helped put LA tech and investing on the map," said Jeffrey Katzenberg, the cofounder of DreamWorks and WndrCo. Several years ago, a founder whose startup Suster invested in was in a conference room rehearsing their presentation for the Upfront Summit. If you're going to put him on your board, you're letting the fox guard the henhouse. "If you're going to put him on your board, you're letting the fox guard the henhouse."

☆ David’s needs bachelorettes, not just brides
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, April 18 (Reuters Breakingviews) - With marriage rates on the decline, David’s Bridal has once again tied itself in a knot. Last time this happened in 2018, David’s courted a group of lenders led by Oaktree to save it. loadingFunding for nuptial-related companies has been on the decline since, as has business at David’s. Modern brides are opting for cheaper casual and secondhand dresses over fancy getups, but they appear more reticent to compromise on pre-wedding soirees. It suggests perhaps that David's fresh start should embrace an old saying, with a twist: always the bachelorette, never the bride.

☆ Airbnb CEO says his $75 billion company was rejected by investors—until a $40 box of cereal turned things around
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Megan Sauer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky and his two co-founders did it with $40 boxes of cereal. Specifically, they sold self-designed cereal boxes featuring then-presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain as a breakfast option in Airbnbs. The cereal proved popular, selling more than 1,000 boxes and making $30,000 for the company, Chesky said. It might have never happened without the cereal: Airbnb was rejected by multiple major investors during its first year of operations, Chesky noted in a 2015 Medium post. "The investors that rejected us were smart people, and I am sure we didn't look very impressive at the time," he wrote.

A bank run took down Silicon Valley Bank on March 10, as depositors withdrew $42 billion in a single day. And that’s why we’ve gone to community banks and regional banks such as SVB,” Bradley said. SVB’s collapse could spark future change, entrepreneur saysBecause of these disparities, entrepreneurs also seek funding from venture capitalists. In the early 2010s, Hamilton intended to start her own tech company — but as she searched for investors, she saw that White men control nearly all venture capital dollars. That experience led her to establish Backstage Capital, a venture capital fund that invests in new companies led by underrepresented founders.

☆ Silicon Valley Bank became the go-to bank for startups with a network of top-tier VCs. Underrepresented founders say that created barriers to access for them.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( April Joyner | Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

But some early-stage founders told Insider they had trouble getting access to SVB's services. SVB's reliance on VC networks made it less accessible to some underrepresented founders, they said. With its focus on venture-backed startups, Silicon Valley Bank provided loans and lines of credit to businesses that often wouldn't qualify for such services at a larger bank. But the earliest-stage companies — those without significant venture funding or a notable VC backer — were still sometimes shut out, founders told Insider. Jean-Charles and Alvarez-Bailey said they didn't believe bias or discrimination was at play in SVB's decisions — they simply didn't meet the bank's VC funding threshold.

☆ Influencer-marketing platform Grin lays off staffers across marketing, engineering, and more teams: 'Unfair and unexpected'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Amanda Perelli | Marta Biino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The layoffs affected staffers across Grin's marketing, engineering, and more teams. Grin, a marketing platform used by brands to run sponsored campaigns with influencers on social media, is the latest creator-economy startup to lay off employees. On Tuesday, the company laid off a number of staffers across its marketing, engineering, and other teams, according to multiple people close to the company. In November, a spokesperson for Grin confirmed the company had laid off 60 staffers. Those November layoffs, which affected about 13% of its staff, mostly impacted staffers in Grin's sales department, the spokesperson said at the time.

☆ A 2nd round of layoffs at Meta and Amazon shows companies are taking back their power — and they may not stop there
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Rebecca Knight | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Meta and Amazon have announced two series of mass layoffs in the span of months. After years of companies trying to attract and placate workers amid a labor shortage, businesses are reasserting some of their power. "We read about two rounds of layoffs now and shrug and say, 'When's the third?'" Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesIt's rare for a company to conduct multiple rounds of layoffs, according to data from Crunchbase. Amazon and Meta did it, so it won't stand out as much."

☆ 20 women who have founded creator-economy startups and broken through in an industry where funding often goes to men
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Marta Biino | Shriya Bhattacharya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Insider is highlighting 17 female founders of popular startups, like Hashtag Pay Me and Roster. These trends have created a difficult climate for women founders in the creator economy, most notably first-time entrepreneurs who are actively fundraising. "The creator economy is largely influenced and run by women but creator-economy startups — especially startups that have received funding — are all run by men," she said. Insider is highlighting 20 women founders who have launched successful startups that are helping remedy problems in the creator economy. Here are 20 women founders within the creator economy, listed alphabetically by company:

☆ SVB collapse is double-whammy for tech startups already navigating brutal market
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

He'd started the process six months earlier during a brutal period for tech stocks and a plunge in venture funding. Investors were just pulling in their horns, the SPAC market had fallen apart, valuations for tech companies were collapsing." In the absence of venture funding, money-losing startups have had to cut their burn rates in order to extend their cash runway. Since the beginning of 2022, roughly 1,500 tech companies have laid off a total of close to 300,000 people, according to the website Layoffs.fyi. Kruze Consulting provides accounting and other back-end services to hundreds of tech startups.

☆ Despite mass layoffs led by Meta, it's still hard to hire the right tech talent
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Kevin Travers | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Even so, it's harder to find and retain tech talent, according to a survey of 1,000 human resources professionals by General Assembly, a professional placement and talent recruitment firm. "I think it's better for tech talent because they are not confined to looking for a job at a 'tech company,'" she said. Create a vision, not just a jobParticularly when it comes to specialized talent, companies have to be intentional. It's about listeningColangelo said success in hiring tech talent comes down to listening well. As for the overall tech talent market, Colangelo said the supply and demand equation may be coming back into better balance.

Search resuls for: "Crunchbase"

25 mentions found