DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

The short-lived fight nonetheless underscores the lengths at which scrappy restaurant operators will go to chase consumer dollars. For restaurants that have been open longer than 13 months, Chipotle’s sales grew faster than Sweetgreen’s in the fourth quarter. That could explain why Chipotle’s valuation, at nearly 5 times forward sales, is more than double that of Sweetgreen’s. Follow on @sharonlam_ TwitterCONTEXT NEWSChipotle Mexican Grill sued rival U.S. take-out chain Sweetgreen for violating its trademarks rights in a similarly branded burrito bowl on April 4, leading to a prompt settlement. Chipotle had argued that Sweetgreen’s “Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowl” violated its trademark rights.

The short-lived fight nonetheless underscores the lengths at which scrappy restaurant operators will go to chase consumer dollars. For restaurants that have been open longer than 13 months, Chipotle’s sales grew faster than Sweetgreen’s in the fourth quarter. Sweetgreen billed itself as a tech innovator when it first went public and acquired robotic-kitchen company Spyce back in 2021. Follow on @sharonlam_ TwitterCONTEXT NEWSChipotle Mexican Grill sued rival U.S. take-out chain Sweetgreen for violating its trademarks rights in a similarly branded burrito bowl on April 4, leading to a prompt settlement. Chipotle had argued that Sweetgreen’s “Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowl” violated its trademark rights.

☆ JPMorgan shares 4 charts that put the banking crisis into perspective — and show why the tech recession may already be over
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Lisa Kailai Han | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

But JPMorgan Private Bank's Jacob Manoukian says investors shouldn't let the noise distract them. With the recent collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank drawing comparisons to the Global Financial Crisis, the stakes have never been higher for the Federal Reserve than they were during this week's FOMC meeting. Both SVB and Signature Bank had an unusually high concentration of large deposits above the $250,000 threshold insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Takeaway #2: Say goodbye to the tech recessionBesides their deposit makeup separating them from regional banks, both SVB and Signature Bank were also highly concentrated in specific sectors. "Such companies are often (as yet) unprofitable, speculative and digitally enabled," Manoukian wrote.

☆ How this 26-year-old went from running bitcoin trading desks in Taco Bells to creating the largest crypto exchange in Africa
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +28 min

Yellow Card CEO Chris Maurice just before meeting with the Securities and Exchange Commission in Accra, Ghana. Chris MauriceFrom there, Yellow Card users can send or receive digital cash in eligible markets. Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards Yellow Card CEO Chris Maurice in Accra, Ghana loading cash onto his Mobile Money account, MoMo. Yellow Card has facilitated $1.75 billion in transactions since launching in 2019 and has about 220 employees – mostly in Africa. A resident checks his phone outside a mobile money kiosk in the Kibera district of Nairobi, Kenya, on Monday, Aug. 1, 2022.

☆ 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.

☆ The top 4 sports and sports tech VCs are ready to open their checkbooks. Here's what they're looking for.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Matthew Kish | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Courtside Ventures in January closed a $100 million fund, its biggest yet. KB Partners late last year closed a $127 million fund, also its biggest yet. If you're not in one of those lanes, don't bother reaching out, even though the firm has the new $100 million fund to dole out. Parikh expects fewer investments in media companies out of the new fund, but more investments in gaming. It's doling out the money through two accelerator programs and an investment fund.

☆ Emerging venture fund managers had few banking options to begin with. After Silicon Valley Bank's collapse, where do they turn now?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Melia Russell | Vishal Persaud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Silicon Valley Bank had long banked a class of startup investors known as emerging managers. He was able to quickly switch from Silicon Valley Bank with an email to his contact at AngelList. Novak is part of a contingent of investors who are shifting their banking strategy in the fallout of Silicon Valley Bank's failure. After Silicon Valley Bank's demise, the big banks have gotten more selective, the three investors said. The big banks like JPMorgan set account minimums for its private banking group, locking out emerging fund managers.

☆ Keith Rabois says Shopify brands have 'a lot of room' to grow, and his startup, OpenStore, just launched a new product to help with that
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Keith Rabois' startup, OpenStore, is launching a new service for Shopify merchants. Keith Rabois founded OpenStore in 2021 with the idea of scooping up Shopify stores and using economies of scale to supercharge their sales. OpenStore has acquired more than 40 Shopify stores so far, says Rabois, a venture capitalist who placed early bets on DoorDash, Affirm, Stripe, and Faire. That makes OpenStore the largest owner and operator of Shopify brands in the world, he told Insider in a recent interview. However, there's "a lot of room" to grow Shopify brands, he added.

☆ Op-ed: Crypto and blockchain need a trellis, not just a weed killer, says Scaramucci
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Anthony Scaramucci | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

You might not know this, but Goldilocks and the Three Bears is actually a story about the debate currently surrounding regulation of the blockchain and crypto industries. The agency nearly doubled the size of its crypto assets enforcement unit last May. Many in the crypto industry want this "regulation by enforcement" to stop. It's as much of a trellis for good plants as it is a weed killer. Scaramucci is the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge Capital, an alternative asset manager and SEC-registered investment adviser.

☆ Silicon Valley Bank's parent company cut off from bank's records
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Dietrich Knauth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SVB Financial has no employees of its own, and the new bank's employees "cut off access" to a substantial portion of SVB Financial's "books, records, files, electronic systems and key employees," according to Kosturos. The FDIC receivership removed SVB Financial's primary source of liquidity and most of its business infrastructure, as well as triggering defaults on SVB Financial's debt, forcing the company into bankruptcy, according to court documents. SVB Financial's court filings listed $19 billion in assets, $2.2 billion in cash and cash equivalents, and $3.4 billion in liabilities. About $15.5 billion of SVB Financial's asset value was attributed to the SVB banking business that was seized by regulators. Those investment funds include direct venture funds that invest in companies, funds-of-funds that invest in other venture capital funds, and debt funds that provide lending and other financing solutions to startups.

☆ 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.

☆ Investors in venture funds reveal how they felt VCs handled the Silicon Valley Bank fallout: one was privately frustrated, while another was impressed
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

After last week's bank run on SVB, many limited partners for VC funds had lots of questions. One LP was unhappy with how VCs in the funds they back handled the SVB crisis. Some LPs are wary of the tech industry's heavy reliance on the bank. But after last week's bank run on Silicon Valley Bank, caused in large part by warnings from several prominent VCs to their portfolio companies to get their money out of the bank, LPs have mixed feelings about how it all went down. "There were a lot of fintech companies in particular, and banking companies that banded together to come up with solutions overnight."

☆ Amazon, Etsy, eBay, and Shopify sellers feel the squeeze of higher fees. Now they must get creative to stay profitable.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Etsy, eBay, Amazon, and Shopify have all raised fees for sellers in recent months. Amazon has also steadily raised fees for its Fulfillment by Amazon service since 2020. But he says things have gotten progressively more difficult in the last year as sales and traffic declined, inflation has squeezed his margins, and eBay has raised fees. Courtesy of Elizabeth MorganElizabeth Morgan, who sells handmade earrings on Etsy, said that she raised her prices by about 5% after Etsy raised fees last year. The Etsy fee hike has been more impactful, however.

☆ Tiger Global Writes Down Venture Funds’ Bets by 33% in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Juliet Chung | Eliot Brown | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Manhattan offices of Tiger Global, which has invested in hundreds of companies including TikTok’s parent. Tiger Global marked down the value of its investments in private companies by about 33% across its venture-capital funds in 2022, according to people familiar with the firm. The markdowns erased $23 billion in value from Tiger’s giant holdings of startups around the globe, one of the people said. Its private portfolio includes big bets on hundreds of companies including TikTok parent ByteDance and payments company Stripe. In the fourth quarter, Tiger’s newest venture funds lost between 9% and 25%.

☆ Blackface, booze, and blurred lines at the $2 billion tech firm Rokt
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Jack Newsham | Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +25 min

A cropped version of an image shared with Rokt employees at the 2020 meeting. Buchanan told Insider. "We think it's important that we stand up and fight it," he told Insider when asked about that message. In an email, Viles told Insider that he hasn't had any day-to-day involvement with Rokt since 2020, when he did some contract work. Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesOne employee told Insider they were encouraged to post the photos and proclaim 2023 to be Rokt's "best year yet."

☆ Cathie Wood blames the Fed for driving SVB and Signature Bank to collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Cathie Wood said the central bank's tightening campaign was fuel for the banking crisis. "I am baffled that banks and regulators could not convince the Fed that disaster loomed." The famed money manager cited the US central bank's aggressive approach to raising interest rates in a short period of time. As a result, the US government stepped in to backstop all deposits at both Signature and SVB. "I am baffled that banks and regulators could not convince the Fed that disaster loomed," Wood said.

☆ ‘I am personally sticking with SVB.’ Prominent tech figures pledge support for bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —After a rollercoaster week for Silicon Valley Bank’s customers, some prominent voices in the tech world are now publicly saying they will keep their money with the embattled lender – and they’re urging others to do the same. It also comes after the regional bank’s saga sent shockwaves across global financial markets. The push to continue doing business with Silicon Valley also highlights the unique relationship between the tech lender and the startup community, and their mutual dependence on each other. The bank has worked with nearly half of all US venture-backed tech and health care companies. But not everyone shares the desire to stay loyal to the bank after its implosion.

☆ Meet the top 14 VCs who've bet the most cash on turning psychedelics into medical treatments
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Yeji Jesse Lee | Catherine Schuster-Bruce | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

The firms on this list have invested about $347 million in psychedelics startups. Despite a downturn in venture funding, investors focused on psychedelics startups are continuing to write checks to back companies focused on developing compounds like MDMA and psilocybin, the psychoactive compound found in magic mushrooms. We narrowed our list to 14 firms by including only funds that invested at least $5 million into psychedelics companies and had portfolios made up of at least 30% psychedelics startups. Investors focused on earlier-stage startups, with most of the funds going to Series A rounds. Here are the top investors in the psychedelics industry, listed by how much capital they've deployed:

☆ Silicon Valley Bank seizure leaves a massive hole — and a large opportunity — in the world of climate finance
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

"Nobody understands startups as well as Silicon Valley Bank and how to lend to them," says Zachary Bogue, a long-time tech investor and cofounder of DCVC. "Silicon Valley Bank understood that even though we may have only had $10,000 or so in deposits at the time, we had a lot of potential," Clerico told CNBC. "That early investment in our relationship paid off," Clerico told CNBC. In this, the bank "was a climate bank pioneer," said Steph Speirs, co-founder and CEO of Solstice Power Technologies, which has built a technology to help connect people to community solar projects. But it will take some time, and delays can be costly in the fight against climate change," Bhatraju told CNBC.

Traders currently see a 50% chance of no rate hike at that meeting, with rate cuts priced in for the second half of the year. Shares of First Republic Bank (FRC.N) tumbled more than 60% as news of fresh financing failed to reassure investors, and so did Western Alliance Bancorp (WAL.N) and PacWest Bancorp (PACW.O). U.S. bank regulators sought to reassure nervous customers on Monday who lined up outside SVB's Santa Clara, California, headquarters, offering coffee and donuts. Regulators also moved swiftly to close New York's Signature Bank SBNY.O, which had come under pressure in recent days. In China, where SVB was the main go-to foreign bank for the majority of start-ups, entrepreneurs and venture funds were also scrambling for alternative funding.

☆ SVB's new CEO urges clients to 'help us rebuild our deposit base'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A view of Silicon Valley Bank headquarters in Santa Clara, CA, after the federal government intervened upon the bankâs collapse, on March 13, 2023. "The number one thing you can do to support the future of this institution is to help us rebuild our deposit base, both by leaving deposits with Silicon Valley Bridge Bank and transferring back deposits that left over the last several days," Mayopoulos wrote. SVB's failure was the second-largest ever for a U.S. bank, behind the 2008 collapse of Washington Mutual. Federal regulators intervened over the weekend, guaranteeing that depositors would not suffer losses as the contagion threated to spread to other banks. The FDIC is only mandated to insure $250,000 worth of deposits per customer.

In the short-term, regulators have found a solution for Silicon Valley Bank depositors and, we hope, calmed the fears of a wider run on regional banks. The much admired U.S. system for producing innovation has just received a body blow, and the turmoil that led to the death of Silicon Valley Bank isn't over. Silicon Valley Bank, founded in 1983, was born in a time when Silicon Valley was a synonym for "tech" and "innovation." SVB was the crown jewel of banks and the venture capital industry, not just in Silicon Valley, but globally. It's easy to picture these as large firms, and a tiny handful of famous venture firms have hundreds of employees.

Chinese start-ups and fund managers said they are still looking to move their money out of SVB once they can. Such banks have offered account services similar to those of SVB, but found it hard to crack the U.S. bank's dominance among early-stage start-ups in China, where SVB has operated for more than two decades and has a local joint venture. STILL HUNTINGSome venture funds said they were in a quandary as SVB had certain advantages and was especially friendly to early-stage start ups. "Not a lot of banks are friendly to venture capital." "But the market space left by SVB will be filled by the next bank, which is an opportunity," said Chen, whose company counts Sequoia Capital China and Wu Capital among its investors and banks with SVB.

☆ The tech industry avoided an ‘extinction-level event,’ but it’s not unscathed
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —For much of the weekend, Silicon Valley scrambled to find a way through what one prominent tech investor described as an “extinction-level event for startups” after the collapse of a top lender in the industry. “You can feel the collective *sigh*,” Ryan Hoover, a tech founder and investor wrote on Twitter Sunday. SVB’s collapse also risks changing how the world, and prospective recruits, think of Silicon Valley. The bank worked with nearly half of all venture-backed tech and healthcare companies in the United States. President Joe Biden emphasized in remarks Monday that “no losses will be borne by the taxpayers” related to the government’s intervention for Silicon Valley Bank.

☆ SVB collapse will have limited impact on Asia, but one analyst says it could be a warning sign
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Jihye Lee | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

HANGZHOU, CHINA - MARCH 12, 2023 - Photo taken on March 12, 2023 shows the logo of SPD Silicon Valley Bank in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China. Future Publishing | Future Publishing | Getty ImagesAnalysts say the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank is not likely to have a major contagion effect in Asia, but one person says it could be seen as a "warning" — especially for economies that haven't hiked interest rates aggressively. It came after U.S. regulators announced measures to further stem systemic risks from Silicon Valley Bank's collapse. While a number of companies within Asia's venture capital and tech start-up sector do have exposure to Silicon Valley Bank, not many have openly admitted to seeing major losses from SVB's bankruptcy. SPD Silicon Valley Bank, a joint venture between Shanghai Pudong Bank and Silicon Valley Bank sought to reassure investors over the weekend and said its operations have been "independent and stable."

Search resuls for: "Venture Fund"

25 mentions found