DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

While breezy bitcoin has bounced back, leaping by about 55% this year, investments in crypto startups have dropped for the fifth straight quarter. VC crypto bets totaled just under $2.3 billion in April-July this year, the lowest quarterly level for over three years, according to data firm PitchBook. In the first half of 2023, investments were down by almost three-quarters from a year ago to $5 billion. Those that are raising capital now are probably doing it because they have to," said Adam Reeds, CEO of Toronto-based crypto finance company Ledn. VC crypto investments have correlated with crypto asset prices with a lag of roughly three to six months, according to PitchBook, and if current trends continue, VC investment would rise during the second half of 2023.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Tal Elyashiv, Crypto, Cameron Peake, Adam Reeds, Alyse Killeen, Medha Singh, Lisa Pauline Mattackal, Tom Wilson, Pravin Organizations: REUTERS, Arrows Capital, Restive Ventures, LayerZero, Thomson, Reuters Locations: Toronto, Bengaluru

☆ Check out the pitch deck Maza used to get Andreessen Horowitz to lead its $8 million seed round to help immigrants access financial services in the US
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Now, Maza has just raised $8 million in seed funding from investors like Andreessen Horowitz. A year and a half later, and Maza has raised $8 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. Customers will have access to Maza's banking services, which include card services, check deposit, and tax services. Down the road, however, the cofounders envision Maza as an "identity" company rather than a banking company, akin to CLEAR in airports, said Arango. Check out the 14-slide pitch deck that Maza used to raise $8 million in seed funding: (Note: certain proprietary information has been redacted.)

Persons: Maza, Andreessen Horowitz, Maza cofounders Luciano Arango, Robbie Figueroa, Siggy, Arango, Anré Williams, Figueroa, Wells Fargo, Seema Amble Organizations: Maza's, LinkedIn, SV Angel, Restive Ventures, Global Founders Capital, American Express National Bank, William Hockey, Plaid Locations: United States, Bilstein, Maza, Wells, Colombia

Employees have been working around the clock to onboard as many startups as possible in the wake of the implosion of Silicon Valley Bank. Silicon Valley Bank, which had more than $175 billion in deposits and served nearly half of US VC-backed startups, was taken over by US regulators on March 10. "That said, I am worried that this bias towards a Big Four bank is a double-edged sword," Shekar added. "SVB did not think like a big bank. They could understand your operating plan when a big bank would balk at it," Ashley Tyrner, CEO and founder of FarmBoxRX, told Insider.

☆ Silicon Valley Bank's meltdown shows that tech's elites need the government after all
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Emilia David | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Silicon Valley Bank meltdown is teaching the tech industry that regulators are sometimes needed. Tech's relationship with regulation has long been contentiousGovernment regulations, some of tech's most vocal figures contend, can stifle innovation and creativity. "I would suspect that this failure will result in some significant changes to banking regulation," Griffin said. "My logic for that is it isn't sustainable to have a run on a bank triggered mainly on Twitter." Very few in the VC world believe that the move to protect depositors will be bad for the industry's overall health.

☆ Investors implore the government to step in after Silicon Valley Bank failure
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Matt Rosoff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Big names in Silicon Valley and the finance sector are calling publicly for the federal government to push another bank to assume Silicon Valley Bank's assets and obligations after the financial institution failed on Friday. But the vast majority of SVB's customers were businesses that had more than that on deposit at the bank. As of December, more than 95% of the bank's deposits were uninsured, according to regulatory filings. Investors are concerned that these failures could reduce confidence in the banking sector, particularly mid-sized banks with under $250 billion in deposits. "This was a hysteria-induced bank run caused by VCs," Ryan Falvey, a fintech investor at Restive Ventures, told CNBC on Friday.

☆ Here's how the second-biggest bank collapse in U.S. history happened in just 48 hours
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Hugh Son | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

On Wednesday, Silicon Valley Bank was a well-capitalized institution seeking to raise some capital. Within 48 hours, a panic induced by the very venture capital community that SVB had served and nurtured ended the bank's 40-year-run. What followed was the rapid collapse of a highly-respected bank that had grown alongside its technology clients. "This was a hysteria-induced bank run caused by VCs," Ryan Falvey, a fintech investor of Restive Ventures, told CNBC. The ramifications could be far-reaching, with concerns that startups may be unable to pay employees in coming days, venture investors may struggle to raise funds, and an already-battered sector could face a deeper malaise.

Search resuls for: "Restive Ventures"

6 mentions found