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☆ Startups that rely on Chinese manufacturers are bracing for Trump's impact
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-22 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

AdvertisementTrump's proposed tariffs could raise costs for hardware startups making physical goods. Hardware startups rely on a host of manufacturers that are mostly based in China. When China-based manufacturers ship the final products back, the hardware startups may get hit with levees of up to 60 percent on goods from China, according to Trump's statements during his campaign. AdvertisementThe impact on startups: 'We're done here'In the aftermath of Trump's election win, euphoria is sweeping through the business world. AdvertisementHe said he's worried about the potential for Trump tariffs to spark a recession.

Persons: Donald Trump's, Nikhil Basu Trivedi, Jared Friedman, Combinator, Friedman, Graham Anderson, Marc Andreessen, Elon Musk, Bradley Tusk, Santosh Sankar, Trump's, Tim Cook, Cook, Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, Steven Mnuchin, Mandel Ngan, Alan Deardorff, Trump, Deardorff, he'll, Lea Suzuki, Spencer Penn, Tesla, Penn, —, Chris Van Dyke's, he's, Van Dyke Organizations: Investors, Elon, Washington Post, Washington, Dynamo Ventures, Apple, Trump, Mac, Getty, Big Tech, University of Michigan, Tesla, San Francisco Locations: China, Asia, When China, Flexport, Austin , Texas, AFP, Fremont , California, Europe

AdvertisementElevenLabs is raising new funding, boosting its valuation to over $3 billion, according to multiple sources. The startup is aiming to raise $200 million in the round, according to one source. Details of the latest funding round are not yet finalized, and the figures involved are subject to change. The company has been increasing its targeted round size and valuation during the process of raising funding, according to these sources. Funding for voice technology companies has picked up even as some of the shine comes off the digital intelligence category as a whole.

Persons: ElevenLabs, Andreessen Horowitz, Piotr Dąbkowski, Mati Staniszewski's, Kleiner Perkins, ElevenLab's Organizations: Ventures, Iconiq Locations: ElevenLabs, OpenAI

☆ Cathie Wood's Ark pitches mom-and-pop investors on exposure to Elon Musk's startups
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-19 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

AdvertisementIn an email to subscribers, Ark Invest highlighted its exposure to Elon Musk's private companies. Its venture fund includes stakes in SpaceX, X, and xAI, totaling nearly 15% of net assets. Ark Invest hyped Musk's influence with Donald Trump, saying his companies could also benefit. SpaceX was Ark Venture Fund's largest holding, with about 13% of assets, worth an estimated $8.7 million. In a recent interview, Winton illuminated the factors that drove Ark's investments in Musk's companies.

Persons: Elon, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Brett Winton, Elon Musk's, Ark, xAI, Trump, Musk, He's, Winton Organizations: Ark Invest, SpaceX, Ark, Elon, Invest, ARK Venture Fund, Ark Venture, Trump megadonor, Trump's, Winton Locations: Elon, United States

☆ Ark's Cathie Wood changed Wall Street. Now, she's set her sights on venture capital.
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-13 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Wood's effort to do something similar for venture capital has delivered investments in many of Silicon Valley's hottest deals. SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, is Ark Venture Fund's largest holding, accounting for 13% of the fund's total assets. SpaceX is Ark Venture Fund's largest holding, accounting for 13% of the fund's total assets, worth around $9 million. OpenAI makes up just 5% of the Ark Venture Fund's portfolio, which means it has less than $4 million invested. AdvertisementArk Venture Fund charges a flat fee for investing assets under its control, the same as a venture fund.

Persons: Cathie Wood, Brett Winton, Wood, Andreessen Horowitz, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, David McNew, Winton, it's, Ark, OpenAI, Donald Trump's, Morningstar, that'll Organizations: Ark Venture Fund, Ark, Investors, Ark Invest, Elon, SpaceX, Ark Venture, Epic Games, Venture Fund Locations: Sequoia

In his last term, Trump paused some work visa programs used by tech firms to hire skilled talent. This order left many tech workers stranded outside of the US in 2017. The H-1B visa program is the nation's largest temporary work visa program, with over 600,000 workers across 50,000 employers. Vice President-elect JD Vance has a venture capital background, and Musk is an immigrant himself who has said he was on an H1-B visa previously. Shin Yi Chong, who received her H1-B visa in 2019, was recently laid off from her tech job as a product manager.

Persons: Donald Trump's, Trump, —, Donald Trump, Michael Greeley, What's, Hiba Mona Anver, Anver, Jenny Fielding, Biden, Palo, Sophie Alcorn, Anna Rathbun, Aaron Levie, Elon Musk, Levie, Elon, Alcorn, JD Vance, Anna Moneymaker, Chris Farmer, Vance, Musk, Shin Yi Chong, Shubhangi Goel, Riddhi Kanetkar Organizations: Service, Flare Capital Partners, Trump, Ventures, Hire, Experts, Business Locations: Cleveland, It's

While many Silicon Valley VCs and founders aren't huge Trump fans, their industry thrives when startups are getting acquired or going public quickly. The Biden administration clamped down heavily on tech M&A, so Trump's win could be a financial boon for the sector. Stephen Hays, the founder and managing partner of What if Ventures, said money is already moving again. AdvertisementBig Tech returns to the tableAs president, Trump could roll back some of the antitrust policies that his opponent would have continued. "People are keeping to themselves and just getting on with their business," said Conrad Burke, a managing partner of MetaVC Partners.

Persons: Kamala Harris, Reid Hoffman, Laurene Powell, Vinod Khosla, Harris, Donald Trump's, aren't, Biden, There's, Jordan Nof, Stephen Hays, Trump, Elon, Lina Khan's, Lulu Cheng Meservey, Y, Lina Khan, Kevin Dietsch, Brandon Brooks, — Trump's, JD Vance —, Chris Farmer, Mason Angel, Louis Lehlot, Lardner, Michael Greeley, Crypto, hasn't, Gary Gensler, Bitcoin, Brian Garrett, Garrett, Jenny Fielding's, Fielding, Conrad Burke, Leslie Feinzaig, bundlers, Kamala, I've Organizations: Democrat, White House, Trump, Tusk Venture Partners, Ventures, Tech, Federal Trade, Investors, Foley, Big Tech, Markets, Flare Capital, Biden, SEC, Crosscut Ventures, Google, Microsoft, MetaVC Partners Locations: Europe

☆ Silicon Valley's Trump boosters celebrate: 'It's time to build'
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-06 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Tech leaders who openly supported Donald Trump took to X to celebrate his win Wednesday morning. AdvertisementAs former president Donald Trump swept to victory Wednesday morning, supporters in Silicon Valley posted messages of congratulations and even gloated over his return to the Oval Office. Some of tech's most high-profile and wealthiest names offered their first reactions after major news networks called the race for Trump. The billionaire owner of X and Tesla watched the election results roll in with Trump from Mar-a-Lago. AdvertisementMarc Andreessen, an early Facebook and Coinbase investor via his firm Andreessen Horowitz, had a curious relationship with Trump.

Persons: Donald Trump, Keith Rabois, —, Chamath Palihapitiya, Shaun Maguire, Trump . Elon Musk, Tesla, Joe Biden, Israel —, Musk, Trump, Doug Leone, Joe Lonsdale, David Sacks, Obama, Biden, Harris, Sacks, Leone, Marc Andreessen, Andreessen Horowitz, Andreessen Organizations: Tech, Service, tech's, Trump, Trump ., Mar, San Francisco, Republicans, Israel, Craft Ventures, Republican National Convention, Business, Federal, Commission, National Republican, Founders Fund, SpaceX, Khosla Ventures Locations: Silicon Valley, Sequoia, America, San, Pennsylvania, Rabois

☆ The CEO of Perplexity said the AI-powered search engine isn't trying to replace the news
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-23 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas addressed the lawsuits the company is facing from news publishers. At a WSJ conference appearance, Srinivas said Perplexity was previously in conversations with Dow Jones. "Let's talk about the elephant in the room," Aravind Srinivas, cofounder and CEO of Perplexity, opened his interview at Wall Street Journal's Tech Live conference. People are directly going to [The] New York Times, The Wall Street Journal," Srinivas said. So, for example, a user can ask Perplexity about a shoe company that has just gone public on Wall Street.

Persons: Aravind Srinivas, Srinivas, Perplexity, Dow Jones, —, Rupert Murdoch's Dow Jones, Mark Penn, Deepa Seetharaman, Anthropic, Claude, It's, OpenAI Organizations: Service, Tech, New York Post, Journalism, New York Times, Street, Microsoft Locations: New York

☆ 'The million-dollar question of this election': Women's health startups are confronting a shifting legal landscape
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-22 | by ( Melia Russell | Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Founders of women's health startups feel doubly invested in this election, one of the closest presidential races of the century. They said another Trump victory creates uncertainty for reproductive health startups, from period trackers to online abortion clinics to embryo banks. For startup Julie, the legal status of emergency contraception is the "million dollar question of this election," said Amanda E/J Morrison. Trump's waffling on reproductive rights has put founders of women's health startups on notice. For some founders of women's health startups, this election is more than a political contest; it has ramifications for their livelihoods.

Persons: Julie, Amanda E, J Morrison, Morrison, Lily, Trump, We're, —, Kamala Harris, Trish Costello, Mika Eddy, Eddy, Samuel Corum, Jane, Roe, Wade, Hey Jane, Carli Sapir, Sapir, Donald Trump, Mark Wilson, Flo, Deena Shakir, Lauren Berson Sugarman, Berson, Alice Zheng, Zheng, Julie's, Dobbs, TikTok influencers, Julie swag, Julie Julie's, It's, Melia Russell, Rebecca Torrence Organizations: Suffolk University, Trump, Getty, Amboy Ventures, White, Lux Capital, Maven, Sciences, Vitra Labs, Investors, Walmart, JAMA, Business Locations: New York, Boston, Texas, California, we're, Roe America, Alabama

☆ These tech investors are trawling UC Berkeley to fund the next Perplexity or Databricks
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-21 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The University of California, Berkeley, is the top producer of alumni starting tech companies. Founded by Jeremy Fiance, The House Fund targets Berkeley-affiliated startups like Databricks. Related stories"I was learning more and more about what The House Fund is from the outside in," Hargreaves said. His move from Founders Fund to The House Fund hasn't been previously reported. The House Fund said it can write checks up to $10 million.

Persons: Jeremy Fiance, Zachary Hargreaves, —, Jeremy, Aravind Srinivas, Hargreaves, it's, Fund hasn't Organizations: University of California, Fund, Berkeley, House Fund, Service, College of Computing, Data Science, Society, The, SpaceX, Founders Fund, Investors, Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Berkeley Endowment Management Company, UC Investments, Ahoy Locations: Berkeley

☆ Venture capital is going to war over the election. Here's the data to prove it.
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-19 | by ( Rob Price | Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

VCs are lobbing cash at the presidential election and key congressional races, FEC data shows. This election cycle, investors at the top venture capital firms have plowed tens of millions of dollars into the election, both backing their favored political candidates and just cannily promoting commercial interests. (The filing deadline for Q3 data for quarterly filing entities was October 15, but this data isn't yet readily available in full online.) Business Insider selected 10 venture capital firms to focus on, taking into account fund size and cultural and industry significance. Sequoia Capital's Doug Leone is one of VC's most prolific GOP-aligned political donors, giving his almost $3.8 million to the National Republican Committee and other causes.

Persons: Reid Hoffman, Kamala Harris, —, hasn't, Andreessen Horowitz, blockchain, Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, a16z, Horowitz, Andreessen, Harris, megadonor Reid Hoffman, Keith Rabois, Kleiner Perkins, Michael Moritz, Shaun Maguire, Joe Manchin, Hoffman, Horowitz Hoffman, Joe Biden, Biden, Nikki Haley, Trump, Vinod Khosla, John Doerr, Doug Leone, Elon Musk, Melia Russell, Rob Price Organizations: Service, Federal, Commission, Yuga Labs, White, Republicans, Founders Fund, SpaceX, Khosla Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Sequoia Heritage, Business, Republican, Lincoln, Democratic, Democratic Party, Democratic Congressional, Sequoia, National Republican, Future Forward PAC, America PAC, Elon, Investors, splashy Hamptons, Harris Victory Fund, Harris Action Fund, Democratic National Committee Locations: Solana, Sequoia, West Virginia, New Hampshire

☆ VC power player Ben Horowitz says he'll donate to Kamala Harris. Read the memo.
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-05 | by ( Melia Russell | Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ben Horowitz, A16z cofounder, said in July that he plans to support former President Donald Trump's campaign. An email to A16z employees now reveals that he plans to donate to Vice President Kamala Harris. The investor wrote that he and his wife will be making a "significant donation" to support Harris. Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. In the Friday email, Horowitz wrote that he and his wife, Felicia, have known Vice President Kamala Harris for over 10 years and that "she has been a great friend to both of us during that time."

Persons: Ben Horowitz, A16z, Donald Trump's, Kamala Harris, Harris, —, Walz, Horowitz, Donald Trump, Felicia, Harris Walz, Ben, Felicia Horowitz's, Joe Biden, Marc Andreessen Organizations: Service, Business, Democratic, Trump Locations: A16z, Axios, America

☆ OpenAI's rivals are on the prowl after an exodus of high-level executives
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-02 | by ( Melia Russell | Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Investors are flocking to OpenAI, but it's losing high-level executives at an alarming rate. Suddenly, it's open season for OpenAI employees. Rivals like Anthropic and Perplexity are signaling to workers that they put mission over profits. Suddenly, it's starting to feel like open season for OpenAI employees. A recruiter said his search firm has fielded more interest from current OpenAI employees since the board's ouster of Sam Altman a year ago.

Persons: —, Mira Murati, Ilya Sutskever, Andrej Karpathy, John Schulman, Greg Brockman, Alex Klein, he's, Dan Miller, Tim Tully, Sam Altman, Jason Redmond, weren't, Klein, OpenAI, Jack Guez, Anthropic, Jan Leike, Schulman, Durk Kingma, Kingma, Matt Murphy, Arvind Jain, Jain, Matt Hoffman, Johnny Ho, Ho Organizations: Rivals, Service, OpenAI, LinkedIn, Menlo Ventures, Ark Venture Fund, Business, Getty, Google, Anthropic, Employees, Engineers Locations: OpenAI, AFP, Bay

☆ Cathie Wood's Ark is doubling down on OpenAI with at least $250 million in its new funding round
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-02 | by ( Melia Russell | Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Cathie Wood's Ark Venture Fund invested at least $250 million in this new round. OpenAI is now Ark Venture Fund's third-largest holding, accounting for about 5% of its total assets. AdvertisementCathie Wood's Ark Venture Fund has agreed to invest at least $250 million in OpenAI's latest funding round, three people familiar with the round said. OpenAI is now Ark Venture Fund's third-largest holding, accounting for about 5% of the fund's total assets, according to its website. On Wednesday, a retail investor shared a screenshot of what appears to be an email she received from Ark Venture Fund informing her of its new OpenAI investment.

Persons: OpenAI, —, Ark, Musk Organizations: Ark Venture Fund, Ark Venture, Service, Microsoft, Tiger Global, Nvidia, Khosla Ventures, United, United Arab Emirates Locations: Abu Dhabi, United Arab, xAI

OpenAI is said to be closing a funding round that could value the company at as much as $150 billion. "Kushner is betting the ranch on OpenAI and Sam Altman just as Masa Son pledged 40% of his Vision Fund on Yahoo and Jerry Yang. "Second, Sam Altman has proven himself to be one of the greatest tech founders of this generation. Sam Altman has said that AI superintelligence could be a reality within "a few thousand days ." "Everybody wants Sam Altman at the helm, and they're willing to do anything to keep him as the CEO.

Persons: OpenAI, —, Sam Altman, ChatGPT, Mira Murati, Bob McGrew, Barret Zoph, Murati's, John Schulman's, Joe Aaron, Aaron, Capital's Josh Kushner, Kushner, Masa Son, Jerry Yang, Jerry Yang wasn't, Jai Das, Goldman Sachs, who's, Altman, they've, Ben Narasin, They're Organizations: Service, Research, Post, Reuters, Nvidia, Apple, Fund, Yahoo, Sapphire Ventures, Venture Locations: Silicon, UAE, OpenAI

☆ How an 'AI sabbatical' helped accounting startup Klarity turbocharge its business
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-25 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

"We just gutted our product and rebuilt it using generative AI." 'The rules of physics have changed'Even before its sabbatical, Klarity was well-versed in natural language processing and computer vision. Nadhamuni gave a talk on generative AI, its history, and the latest breakthroughs in the technology. If the new tech could do those five things, they would rebuild the core of Klarity's platform using generative AI. Nadhamuni also wrote a playbook on how to run a generative AI sabbatical that's available on Tola Capital's blog.

Persons: —, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, Nischal Nadhamuni, Nadhamuni, Klarity, Friedman, Gross, Aaron Fleishman, Fleishman, OpenAI, Miro, Tola Organizations: Service, Business, MIT, Venture Partners, Tola, Picus, Invus, Engineers

☆ The hottest AI startups are raising back-to-back funding rounds. Suddenly, it's feeling very 2021 in Silicon Valley for a chosen few.
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-20 | by ( Ben Bergman | Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Read previewIn February, Glean announced a $200 million funding round valuing the AI enterprise software startup at $2.2 billion. AdvertisementThe transaction is the latest in a string of dizzying back-to-back funding rounds at ever-higher valuations for a handful of AI startups that stand in stark contrast to the doldrums of the overall market for startups. Earlier this year, Sakana raised $30 million in a seed funding round led by Lux Capital. Slingshot AI, which has built an automated mental health counselor, also raised separate rounds of funding just months apart. Advertisement"VCs are increasingly faced with frequent requests from their hot AI companies to follow on or double down on investments," said Iris Sun, an investor at 500 Global.

Persons: —, Glean, Arvind Jain's inbox, Jain, Steve Brotman, Perplexity, SoftBank, Sakana, Gregg Hill, that's, Matt Murphy, Dario Amodei, Kimberly White, Murphy, I'd, I've, Jenny Chang, Rodriguez, Jai Das, Rajeev Dham, couldn't, Das, Sapphire, Uber, Iris Sun, Chandrasekar Organizations: Service, Business, DST Global, Alpha Partners, Bloomberg, Google, New Enterprise Associates, Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Parkway Venture Capital, Menlo Ventures, Getty, Sapphire Ventures, Investments Locations: Tokyo

Business Insider identified the most famous book set in every state through surveys and research. In the US, where each state has a storied past and varied cultures and traditions, there's so much to explore. To ensure you have the most wholesome literary tour around the country, Business Insider scoured published listings and surveyed our reporters for their best picks, rounding up the most famous book set in every state — and, as a bonus — Washington DC, too. Here are the most famous books set in every state. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers.

Persons: —, Dr Seuss, you'll Organizations: Service, Business, Washington DC Locations: Louisiana, New York City

Abridge: AI transcription for doctors and providersMarisa Bass (left) is a principal at Primary, and Shravan Narayen is a partner at IVP. Primary; IVPStartup: AbridgeRecommended by: Marisa Bass, Primary Venture Partners; Shravan Narayen, IVPRelationship: Primary has no financial interest in Abridge. IVP is an investor in Abridge. Total funding: $212.5 millionWhat it does: Abridge's generative AI tech transcribes patient-doctor interactions and documents those visits in electronic health records. Narayen and Bass highlighted Abridge's partnership with EHR giant Epic, which could help the startup gain more traction with hospitals this year.

Persons: Marisa Bass, Shravan, Abridge, Bass Organizations: IVP, Primary Venture Partners Locations: Abridge

☆ The female 'founder mode' double standard
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-07 | by ( Melia Russell | Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

From the moment Paul Graham dropped his essay on "founder mode," people online analyzed it like a stone tablet found bearing the new commandment of startupdom. But there's one group that has been privately wrestling with "founder mode" since before it had a meme-able name: female founders. Four female founders told Business Insider that a stark double standard prevents them from operating their startups as their male counterparts do. Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd wrote on Instagram that she was "in founder mode for 10 years and got attacked for it every single day." But unlike female founders, he and Neumann, the WeWork founder, enjoy the luxury of being given second chances by investors.

Persons: Paul Graham, Tobias Lütke, Baron Davis, Jessica Lessin, Tim Cook, Satya Nadella, that's, There's, they'll, Amanda E, J Morrison, Julie Products, Adam Neumann, Sophia Amoruso, it's, Whitney Wolfe Herd, Morrison, We've, they're, Clara Brenner, They're, she's, Julie, Christie Horvath, Wagmo's, Horvath, there's, Anna Barber, Barber, Jenny Fielding, Fielding, Elon, Sara Mauskopf, Slack, Musk, Mauskopf, Neumann, It's, Ty Haney, athleisure —, Haney, Graham's Organizations: Service, Founders, Spotify, Urban Innovation Fund, CVS, M13 Ventures, Ventures, TechCrunch

☆ This startup ditched plans to go public and sold to a private equity firm for $3 billion. Here's the pitch deck it used.
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-06 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

European private equity firm Hg expressed interest in buying a majority stake in the enterprise software company. For startups, private equity represents a deep-pocketed buyer willing to move quickly, pay a premium, and potentially help the business by tapping into complementary companies in their portfolio. AuditBoard is the kind of startup that private equity goes gaga over. Bidding warArnold then delivered the pitch deck that he had shown to public market investors just weeks before. Here's the 19-slide pitch deck that AuditBoard used to court a $3 billion buyout from private equity.

Persons: —, Scott Arnold, Morgan Stanley, Arnold, AuditBoard, Corporates, Daniel Kim, Jay Lee, It's, Fortune, Alex Johnson, Johnson, Morgan Stanley's, Roxanne Oulman's, Nic, Humphries — Hg's, Goldman Sachs, Humphries, he's Organizations: Service, Business, Battery Ventures, Tiger Global, Morgan Locations: Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Shutterfly, Paris

☆ For young, promising venture capitalists, the path to partner has suddenly become much steeper
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-26 | by ( Melia Russell | Sri Muppidi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Let's make a dealThere's no one way to get promoted in venture capital. Amanda "Robby" Robson became a partner at Cowboy Ventures at 29 years old, making her the youngest partner in the firm's history. Network your way to a promotionFundraising for venture firms has become increasingly competitive, with dollars concentrated into fewer legacy funds. Firms might be faster to hire or promote young investors who land deals in the desired category. The next day, the fund promoted him to senior associate and Brenner made it LinkedIn-official.

Persons: —, Dan Miller, Abigail Johnson, Michael Larsen, It's, Clara Brenner, Larsen, Amanda, Robby, Robson, Jill Chase, Chase, Miller, " Miller, Johnson, Jenieri Cyrus, Julie Lein, Brenner, Cyrus Organizations: Service, Business, True, Sapphire Ventures, Cambridge Associates, Urban Innovation Fund, Investors, Google, Cowboy Ventures, TechCrunch, intel, Urban, Northwestern Kellogg, LinkedIn Locations: Northwestern

☆ 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

☆ Inside The Engine Accelerator, the anti-Y Combinator for 'tough tech' startups
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-16 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The Engine Accelerator is part coworking space and part startup accelerator, though it doesn't invest. The Engine AcceleratorThe Engine Accelerator provides shared resources like chemistry fume hoods, flow cytometers, microscopes, spectrometers, ovens, and lathes. The anti-Y CombinatorThe Engine Accelerator isn't a typical accelerator in one key way. The Engine Accelerator separated into a venture fund and an accelerator late last year. Correction: August 16, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated what the Massachusetts Institute of Technology provided for The Engine Accelerator.

Persons: —, Emily Knight, Y Combinator, Knight, Adam Slavney, Jinyoung Seo, Slavney, Pascal, Peña, Peña Feliz, He's, MacroCycle Organizations: Service, Business, Minks, Harvard, MIT, Pascal, Khosla Ventures, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engine Ventures Locations: Cambridge , Massachusetts

☆ A private-equity takeover is coming for startups
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-12 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The European private equity firm had been eyeing the late-stage startup for five years, impressed by its traction and focus on customer success. The speed of the deal, and the flashy multiple, illustrate how private equity funds are able to swallow startups more often lately. But in the face of rising inflation and interest rates, software customers from tech startups to mom-and-pop shops trimmed their budgets. Andreessen Horowitz plans to invest in the private equity asset class through its family office division. With high interest rates and a liquidity crunch reshaping the landscape, private equity is seizing the moment.

Persons: —, Scott Arnold, AuditBoard, Michael Brown, They're, Brown, Derek Hernandez, Aaron Fleishman, Fleishman, they're, Thoma, Yoni, Rechtman, it's, Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz Organizations: Service, Business, Battery Ventures, Battery, Tola Capital, Thoma Bravo, Vista Equity Partners, Slow Ventures, Eldridge Industries, Sequoia Locations: Southern California, VCs, Big Tech, Metropolis, North America

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