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☆ The Juggernaut promised to revolutionize South Asian news. But insiders say the company's founder misled investors, struggled to raise money, and left workers 'heartbroken.'
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-05 | by ( Katie Warren | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +33 min

They were gathered for the inaugural summit of The Juggernaut, a digital South Asian news startup that launched in 2019. The Juggernaut spokesperson told BI that "multiple employees have equity in the company," but BI was unable to identify any such employees. "Twenty years ago, you might've struggled to mention a South Asian actor that you've seen in a movie," he said. As of January, the site had about 10,500 subscribers, Sur told investors in an email viewed by BI. Some feel that the publication has strayed from its mission of delivering "untold, smart South Asian stories and news you won't find anywhere else."

Persons: —, Richa Moorjani, Manish Chandra, Anish Melwani, Sadiq Khan, Amitav Ghosh, Roy Rochlin, Jay Bhattacharya, didn't, Sur, Padma Lakshmi, Moorjani, Mira Nair, Oprah Winfrey, she'd, who've, Josh Benson, Bhattacharya, might've, you've, Dev Patel, Priyanka Chopra, Black millennials, Bhattacharya's, Adam Hansmann, Kevin Lin, Albert Ni, Charles Hudson, Steve Jennings, Sur's, Kyle Stanford, Axios, Stanford, Snigdha, Winfrey, MICHAEL TRAN, hadn't, wouldn't, Fariha Róisín, Meghna Rao, Róisín, Rao, Rao didn't, they'd, she's, it's, Hudson, who'd, Reetu Gupta, Aditi Shah, Sean Gupta, Steven Simione, would've, we're, Brian Morrissey, Morrissey, cofounders, Narendra Modi's, Sneha Mehta Organizations: Spring Studios, Netflix, Business, New Yorker, Harvard Business School, Guardian, American, Old Town Media, Athletic, BI, Indian, Yale, McKinsey, Precursor Ventures, Forbes, Getty, TechCrunch, YouTube's Sustainability, YouTube, Paramount Pictures Studios, Immigration Services, Stanford, Digiday, Gannett Locations: York City, chai, Jean's, hasn't, Sur, New York City, South, Asian, India, Madhya Pradesh, Queens, Sur texted, Indian American, AFP, Róisín, Los Angeles , California, South Asia, Silicon

☆ China’s VC playbook is undergoing a sea change as U.S. IPO exits get tougher
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

That's far less than in the previous years — the share of U.S. dollars in total VC funds raised was around 15% for the years 2018 to 2021, the data showed. China investments, China exitsWashington and Beijing in 2022 resolved a long-standing audit dispute that reduced the risk of Chinese companies having to delist from U.S. stock exchanges. "With U.S. IPOs no longer being a viable exit strategy for China assets, investors should target local exits in their respective capital markets—in other words, China exits for China assets, and U.S. exits for overseas assets," Liao said. The 20 largest VC deals for China-headquartered companies in 2013 were predominantly in e-commerce and software services, according to PitchBook data. ... the venture capital scene has become even more state-concentrated and focused on government priorities.

Persons: China’s renminbi, Athit Perawongmetha, Kyle Stanford, China —, Liao Ming, Stocks, Liao, Didi, Beijing's, Camille Boullenois Organizations: Reuters, Reuters BEIJING — Venture, Liao Ming, U.S, Sequoia, Prospect, Capital, New York Stock Exchange Locations: U.S, Bangkok, Thailand, Reuters BEIJING, China, Sequoia, Washington, India, Japan, Greater China, Beijing, New York, Hong Kong, U.S . Washington

☆ Dud IPO market closes 2023 with a whimper for the second year in a row
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-08 | by ( Bob Pisani | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Another year, another lousy IPO market. The 2023 IPO market is closing with a whimper, not a bang. You'd think the IPO market would be bubbling, but it's dead quiet. Source: Renaissance Capital For a good part of the year, the excuse was interest rates were rising, the market was too volatile, and the after market performance of 2023 IPOs was terrible. The November rally is too little too late to save the IPO market Unfortunately, it all came a little too late to rescue 2023.

Persons: Birkenstock, You'd, Rivian, Doordash, IPOs, Matt Kennedy, Don Short, you've, haven't, confidentially, Waystar, Kim Kardashian's, Musk, Howe Ng, Ng, Kyle Stanford, Instacart, it's, James Ulan, Stanford, Pitchbook, Greg Martin Organizations: Renaissance, That's, IPOs, Hertz, Sotera, ARM, Renaissance Capital, Klarna, Microsoft, Forge Global, Bloomberg, SpaceX, Nvidia, Rainmaker Securities Locations: Pitchbook

☆ Analysis: Arm's stellar listing sets the stage for more SoftBank acquisitions
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-17 | by ( Anton Bridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] A smartphone with a displayed Arm Ltd logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. The tech investment behemoth raised nearly $5 billion from Arm's offering while retaining 90.6% of the firm. Known for debt-fuelled acquisition sprees, SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son flagged in June that the company was shifting back into "offence mode" as he highlighted the potential of artificial intelligence. That's after a year of "defence mode" when tech valuations crashed amid higher interest rates and global banking jitters. Few companies in SoftBank's investment portfolio have demonstrated commercial utility in AI, analysts said.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, behemoth, Masayoshi, Yoshimitsu Goto, SoftBank, SemiAnalysis, Kyle Stanford, There's, Amir Anvarzadeh, PitchBook's Stanford, Anton Bridge, Miyoung Kim, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Arm Holdings, SoftBank, HK, Vision, Nvidia, Asymmetric Advisors, Thomson Locations: British

☆ Arm's stellar listing sets the stage for more SoftBank acquisitions
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Anton Bridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

☆ Arm IPO: China is huge for the SoftBank-owned company. That's a risk for its new investors
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Arm China is “an entity that operates independently of us and is our single largest customer,” the company said in its prospectus. A complex relationshipIn its filing, Arm said it held just a “4.8% indirect ownership interest in Arm China,” through a 10% non-voting stake in a SoftBank-controlled entity that owns less than half of the Chinese company. Arm has had trouble with Arm China before. Arm China has also been subject to a legal battle with its former CEO, Allen Wu. As of August, the cases had been resolved in favor of Arm China, it said, but the outcome could still be appealed.

Persons: SoftBank, Arm, ” Kirk Boodry, Japan’s SoftBank, Masayoshi Son, David Paul Morris, ”, Kyle Stanford, ” Stanford, Jay Clayton, Ivana Delevska, Spear, …, Allen Wu, Wu, hasn’t, Delevska Organizations: Hong Kong CNN —, Vision Fund, CNN, Nvidia, Bloomberg, Getty, US Securities and Exchange, Spear Invest, “, Arm, Companies, Apple, Google, AMD, Samsung Locations: Hong Kong, British, China, Washington, Beijing, Arm China, Cambridge, United States, United Kingdom, San Jose , California, America, decouple

☆ Startup extinction season is going to kick into high gear — and there's likely going to be a bloodbath soon for some of the 50,000 VC-backed startups
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-26 | by ( Vishal Persaud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

There are more than 50,000 US VC-backed startups, and many will be looking for capital soon. Some startups will be looking for funding in Q4 or be forced to look for a sale or shut down. The startup has followed the typical survival strategy of a desperate startup this year by first cutting costs with layoffs. We all know venture capital funding is tough to come by these days. Venture capital funding was overly abundant in the latter half of 2020 and all of 2021.

Persons: Melia Russell, Rob Price, It's cratered, Kyle Stanford, PitchBook, –, they've, it's, aren't, Stanford Organizations: Morning, US VC, Venture, Stanford, Tiger

☆ US-China investments: New Biden executive order deals 'major blow' to Chinese startups
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The Biden administration announced Wednesday it would restrict investments by US venture capital and private equity firms, as well as joint ventures, in Chinese artificial intelligence, quantum computing and semiconductors. The executive order applies to investments in the cities of Hong Kong and Macao, as well as mainland China. She said the new edict suggested that Washington was “trying to ‘decouple’” US and Chinese venture capital, despite the administration’s insistence that it is not trying to halt trade with China. US venture capital investment into China has plummeted about 80% over the past year, according to PitchBook data. And the investment restrictions were long in the works.

Persons: Biden, they’ll, ”, Edith Yeung, Washington, Yeung, Kyle Stanford, Kaidi Gao, Tomohiro Ohsumi, “, Gao, Washington —, Xi Jinping, Gina Raimondo’s Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, CNN, Race Capital, ”, PitchBook, Bloomberg, Getty, Investors, Washington, Sequoia Capital, Chinese Ministry of Commerce, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, US Locations: Hong Kong, China, Macao, Silicon, United States, “ Washington, US, ”, Shanghai, chipmaking, Stanford, Beijing

☆ There's a huge backup of tech companies waiting to go public, says PitchBooks Kyle Stanford
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailThere's a huge backup of tech companies waiting to go public, says PitchBooks Kyle StanfordKyle Stanford, PitchBook senior VC analyst, joins 'Closing Bell Overtime' to talk the IPO market, the A.I. craze and the current VC landscape.

Persons: PitchBooks Kyle Stanford Kyle Stanford, PitchBook

☆ The dead IPO market is dragging down VCs' ability to raise new funds with returns tied up in startups overdue an exit, analysts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The lack of liquidity is making it even more difficult for VCs to raise new funds, analysts said. PitchBook's Nalin Patel said LP money could become trapped in companies that were "overdue an exit." Venture capital-backed exits have continued to collapse in 2023, piling pressure on general partners already facing a torrid time trying to raise funds from institutional investors. This represented a 40% decline on the $161.4 billion worth of exits posted during the same period last year. In a performing exit market growth stage companies like fintech giant Stripe, buy now, pay later firm Klarna, and software firm Databricks may all have already gone public.

Persons: PitchBook's Nalin Patel, Wise, Klarna, Kyle Stanford, Nalin Patel, Stanford Organizations: Venture, PitchBook's EMEA, Global, Companies Locations: Deliveroo, PitchBook's

☆ Venture capital for Black entrepreneurs plummeted 45% in 2022, data shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Gabrielle Fonrouge | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Dixon is one of many Black entrepreneurs who struggled to secure funding for their businesses and relied on venture capital financing earmarked for diverse founders. While Dixon and many others have ultimately succeeded, Black-led businesses and Black founders have historically faced disparities in securing VC funding. Overall, Black entrepreneurs typically receive less than 2% of all VC dollars each year while companies led by Black women receive less than 1%, according to data from Crunchbase. That drop is the largest year-over-year decrease Black entrepreneurs have seen over the past decade. "Venture capital is a very privileged and exclusive industry, and has always been that way.

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."

☆ Redis Names Former Five9 CEO to Head Database Startup
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Database startup Redis Ltd. has named Rowan Trollope its new chief executive officer, effective Feb. 1. Mr. Trollope was CEO of the cloud-based customer-service software firm Five9 Inc. until Nov. 28, and had served in the role since 2018. After Mr. Trollope’s departure, former Five9 CEO Mike Burkland returned to his previous post. At Redis, Mr. Trollope will succeed Ofer Bengal, who co-founded the startup with Yiftach Shoolman in 2011 and has served as CEO since its founding. Mr. Trollope led Five9 through its plans to merge with Zoom Video Communications Inc. in September of last year.

Elon Musk seems determined to remake Twitter in his own image — with some help from the men in his trusted inner circle. They are joined in Musk’s orbit by Alex Spiro, a trial attorney with a roster of celebrity clients who reportedly led the first round of Twitter layoffs. Bloomberg reported Wednesday night that Twitter is preparing to eliminate about 3,700 jobs, or roughly half its workforce. Musk's personnel decisions suggest a possible road map for the future of Twitter, one in which policies and internal rules are drawn at least in part from the views of Musk’s consiglieres. Sacks, Calacanis, Spiro and Birchall did not immediately respond to questions about the company’s future and the nature of their roles there.

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