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☆ Government vows aid for tech firms but Israel stocks slide on SVB collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Steven Scheer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Israel's tech sector is the country's main growth engine, and its relationship with the Silicon Valley region is strong. NextVision (NXSN.TA), a maker of micro stabilised cameras, said in a regulatory filing in Tel Aviv that it withdrew on Thursday almost all of the $2.7 million it held in SVB. The Tel Aviv index of the five largest banks (.TELBANK5) was down 4% in afternoon trading, while the index of eight insurers (.TAINS) fell 4.7%. Israel's two largest banks, Leumi (LUMI.TA) and Hapoalim (POLI.TA), said their tech banking arms would issue loans to startups and other tech firms that were without access to credit in the wake of SVB's collapse. Reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Frank Jack Daniel and Raissa KasolowskyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Tech startups and other businesses raced to line up sources of cash for payroll and other immediate needs after their deposits in Silicon Valley Bank , long a linchpin of tech financing, were locked up when federal authorities took control Friday morning. The bank’s sudden collapse fueled uncertainty among many founders over the immediate future of their businesses, and further hobbled a startup sector that has struggled with a sharp slowdown in venture funding and broader economic woes. Its demise will likely further accelerate the shift away from the high-risk and aggressive growth strategies that startups embraced during the decades-plus bull market that ended last year, according to longtime startup investors.

☆ Silicon Valley Bank collapse sends tech industry into a panic
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Following the bank’s collapse on Friday, uncertainty in the startup community only grew. Founders Fund, an influential venture capital firm founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, reportedly advised its portfolio companies to pull money from the bank. “SVB is the most important capital provider to tech startups and the biggest supporter of the community,” he said in a tweet. “Now is the time to support them.”The rapidly unfolding fallout at Silicon Valley Bank comes at a challenging moment for the tech industry. Now, the bank’s collapse risks compounding the industry’s cash crunch and broader turbulence.

☆ Companies scramble to meet payroll, pay bills after SVB's swift failure
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Ari Levy | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

In this article SIVB Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTEmployees stand outside of the shuttered Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) headquarters on March 10, 2023 in Santa Clara, California. They'll receive a dividend within a week covering an undetermined amount of their money and a "receivership certificate for the remaining amount of their uninsured funds." Clients with uninsured funds — anything over $250,000 — don't know what to do. Gilbert said he's advising portfolio companies individually, instead of sending out a mass email, because every situation is different. "I got emails saying saying don't send money to SVB, and if you have let us know," Gilbert said.

☆ Here's the 8-page pitch deck that a startup helping government contractors navigate subcontractor compliance used to raise $2.5 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Paige Hagy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

GovForce is a software startup that helps government contractors with compliance. GovForce used this 8-page pitch deck to raise a $2.5 million seed round. This software startup is helping government contractors keep tabs on the companies it outsources work to. GovForce offers government contractors software that allows them to continually monitor the compliance of its subcontractors through a dashboard. Read the 8-page pitch deck GovForce used to raise a $2.5 million seed round.

☆ Melinda Gates' venture fund just bet on hot women's health startup Tia. Here's the presentation it used to raise $100 million in 2021 to rebuild after COVID shutdowns.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Megan Hernbroth | Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The women's healthcare startup Tia just landed funding from Melinda Gates' Pivotal Ventures. See the 30-slide presentation Tia used to raise $100 million in just three weeks in 2021. As gaps in reproductive healthcare worsen in the US post-Roe v. Wade, women's healthcare startup Tia wants to elevate the standards for women's physical, mental, and reproductive care. Before the pandemic, Tia was building in-person healthcare clinics for women without the virtual component. Here is the 30-slide presentation Witte used to raise Tia's $100 million Series B funding in just three weeks in 2021.

☆ Here's an exclusive look at the pitch deck that Y Combinator alum Opkit, a health insurance verification startup, used to raise funding from investors like Plaid CEO Zach Perret's VC firm
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Opkit is a startup that helps telehealth companies verify and process patient health insurance. Software engineers Sherwood Callaway and Justin Ko first met as early employees at the fintech startup Brex and became fast friends. As more telehealth companies were popping up after the pandemic, they often had issues with quickly processing patient health insurance for care, Callaway told Insider. Opkit also offers providers an insurance dashboard, that allows telehealth employees to perform eligibility checks or inquiries to insurance companies about specific patients' plans. "Opkit was our first experience doing venture fundraising, and Y Combinator really helped us make connections with investors," said Callaway.

☆ Venture capitalists swap Paris Hilton for Al Gore
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Anita Ramaswamy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

LOS ANGELES, March 3 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Venture capitalists are trading reality stars for policy wonks. Hundreds of top venture capitalists flocked to Los Angeles this week to congregate at a two-day, invite-only soirée for tech’s elite. For 2022, venture-backed companies collected nearly $240 billion for their coffers, 31% lower than the record $345 billion in 2021, according to Reuters. Crowds piled into the theater at the Museum of Motion Pictures to hear a reality check on climate change from former Vice President Al Gore. CONTEXT NEWSThe 10th annual Upfront Summit took place in Los Angeles on March 1 and 2.

☆ Alphabet venture arm CapitalG names Laela Sturdy new head of firm, David Lawee steps aside
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

CapitalG partner Laela Sturdy is on track to be one of the year's biggest investors. Alphabet's growth stage venture arm, CapitalG, has named Laela Sturdy its new leader. The move means CapitalG will be one of the few venture firms to be led by a female partner. Generally speaking, CapitalG invests a lot like other growth-stage firms, but with only one limited partner as an investor -- its parent company, Alphabet. "I would say the value Laela has provided has been significantly higher than the money anyone's provided″ Duolingo CEO Luis Von Ahn told CNBC at the time.

☆ There are still opportunities in VC firms despite a drop in funding, says 500 Global
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Sheila Chiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Global venture capital firm 500 Global is bullish on the VC sector, even as venture funding took a hit in 2022 as economic uncertainties loomed. According to data compiled by Crunchbase, global venture funding in 2022 totaled $445 billion — lower by 35% compared to the previous year. "But I wouldn't go so far as to say that there is a funding winter," Harnal told CNBC's Martin Soong and Sri Jegarajah. Some of the startups they invested in during their early stages include Australian graphic design software Canva, Southeast Asia's ride-hailing firm Grab and Indonesian fish farming tech startup eFishery. Startups are mostly unprofitable, as they prioritize growth over profitability in the initial years, which usually translates into burning cash.

☆ Europe's venture capital firms are facing a painful 2023 as some struggle to prove returns to LPs in bid to raise fresh capital
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Some of Europe's venture capital firms are struggling to show returns on their investments. Europe's venture capital sector has enjoyed a booming run in recent years. Now, the dramatically changed economic landscape has left not only the startups facing a scarcity of available capital, but also the venture capital firms that fund them too. There are likely to be countless more who are also struggling to raise capital. For some smaller firms, the frothy days of 2021 are looking increasingly like a distant memory.

☆ 51 Black investors changing the VC industry with firms dedicated to funding diverse startup founders
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Vishal Persaud | April Joyner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Funding to Black VCs rose to $3.4 billion in 2022 from $2.3 billion in 2021, new data reveals. Yet, that's 2.1% of the record $162.6 billion the US venture industry raised in 2022, data shows. These Black VCs hope to change the industry by investing in more underrepresented startup founders. Venture funding to Black investors bounced back in 2022 after a precipitous dip the year before. Do you know of other Black VCs who started or lead funds to back underrepresented founders?

☆ Here's an exclusive look at the 15-slide pitch deck Smartrr's CEO used to raise $10 million, despite VCs saying it wasn't the right time to fundraise while she was pregnant
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Smartrr, a startup building subscription-enablement software, raised a $10 million Series A.Smartrr CEO Gabriella Tegen says she felt that she had to hide her pregnancy while fundraising. Some VCs had told her it wasn't the right time to fundraise. Despite that, she completed the fundraising process in three months and closed a $10 million Series A round in the first week of January, just a few days after she gave birth to her daughter. Smartrr has raised $17 million in venture funding in total and is valued at $45 million, according to PitchBook. Smartrr's goal is to help brands improve the lifetime value of their customers, Tegen said.

☆ Venture Fundraising Hits Nine-Year Low
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Berber Jin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Sequoia Capital changed the fees it charges limited partners to better reflect the slowdown. Fundraising by venture-capital firms hit a nine-year low in the fourth quarter, as the macroeconomic pressures that already weighed on technology startups began to affect the investors who underpin the industry. Venture firms raised $20.6 billion in new funds in the fourth quarter. That was a 65% drop from the year-earlier quarter and the lowest fourth-quarter amount since 2013, according to data firm Preqin Ltd., which tracks venture-fund data. The amount was also less than half the level raised in the preceding three months, the first time fundraising volumes decreased from the third to fourth quarter since 2009, the data show.

☆ Uber to introduce EVs in India in push to clean cars
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Aditi Shah | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW DELHI, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Uber Technologies (UBER.N) said on Monday it will introduce electric vehicles (EVs) in India for ride-sharing, its first move to adopt clean cars amid an Indian government push for greater electrification of public transport and shared mobility. Uber's fleet partners will buy the EVs from Tata Motors (TAMO.NS), India's biggest electric carmaker, Prabhjeet Singh, president, Uber India and South Asia, said during a phone interview on Monday. Even with 25,000 EVs, electric cars will still be a fraction of Uber's current overall active fleet of 300,000 vehicles in India, according to Singh. Uber has set a 2040 target for 100% of its rides to be in zero-emission vehicles, public transport or with micro-mobility, including in India. Tata rival Mahindra & Mahindra (MAHM.NS) is the only other Indian automaker to build electric cars locally.

☆ This Ukrainian woman refused to let the Russian invasion destroy her small business
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Stephanie Stacey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Before Russia's invasion, her retail business It's Craft operated out of a warehouse in Nova Kakhovka — a small, strategically-significant city in the Kherson region of Ukraine. In April, Viktoria fled her home in Nova Kakhovka and reestablished herself — and her online store — in a new city. Now, she told Insider, business is booming — and sales have even outstripped pre-war figures. It all happened very fastIt was only after a lot of hesitation that Viktoria and Pavlo finally decided to flee Nova Kakhovka. Hardened resolveBefore escaping Nova Kakhovka, Viktoria had applied to the Ukrainian Social Venture Fund to seek financial support for relaunching and relocating It's Craft.

☆ Rise of 'zombie' VCs haunts tech investors as plunging valuations hammer the industry
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Startup investors are increasingly warning of an apocalyptic scenario in the VC world — namely, the emergence of "zombie" VC firms that are struggling to raise their next fund. Life becomes harder for zombie firms in a higher interest rate environment, as it increases their borrowing costs. Investors expect this gloomy economic backdrop to create a horde of zombie funds that, no longer producing returns, instead focus on managing their existing portfolios — while preparing to eventually wind down. "There are definitely zombie VC firms out there. "We're going to see a lot more zombie venture capital firms this year," Steve Saraccino, founder of VC firm Activant Capital, told CNBC.

☆ A Bullpen Capital VC explains how startups should structure their pitch decks when fundraising — and offers advice for founders from underrepresented backgrounds
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Shriya Bhattacharya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Here are her tips on how founders can structure their pitch decks in today's financial landscape. However, things might look up towards the end of summer, which she says could be the best time for founders to pitch venture-capital firms. An integral way she decides which startups get funding is by reviewing their pitch decks, she says. Based on her experience reviewing hundreds of pitch decks, Lai explains how founders looking to raise money in today's financial landscape should structure their presentations. She also shares what she terms a "controversial opinion": that founders should research the VCs they're pitching to and learn what their priorities are.

☆ Returns from top venture firms NEA, DCM, and Khosla have been dismal over the past 2 decades, according to filings from California's largest pension fund, CalPERS
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

CalPERS is the US's largest public pension plan, managing the retirement accounts of 1.5 million California employees and retirees. Unlike many other financial institutions, VC funds are not required to show their return on investment in startups. The CalPERS fund's $75 million bet in 2001 on a venture fund managed by the Carlyle Group lost money. A $25 million investment in DCM's 2000 fund had a 1.9% IRR. Its $260 million investment in two Khosla Ventures funds in 2009 yielded an IRR of 11.8% for the early-to-midstage fund and 6.9% for the seed-stage fund.

☆ The great venture-capital resignation is now the great uncertainty for many solo GPs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

But what's gone almost unnoticed in the midst of the tech bloodletting is that consolidation is coming for venture investors, too. "Anyone who wanted to raise a fund could," said Nichole Wischoff, a solo venture capitalist. In essence, the great venture-capital resignation has become the great uncertainty. Family offices and institutions that front money to venture funds are being inundated with pitches, multiple sources said. "There's not going to be a rush by the big mega-platforms to hire them," said the principal at the early-stage venture firm.

☆ Richard Parsons Is Investing in People Who Are Overlooked
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Emily Bobrow | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

When Richard Parsons became chief executive of Time Warner Inc. in 2002, he assumed he was pioneering a new era of Black CEOs in American corporations. “I had envisioned that on the heels of the Great Society initiatives of the 1970s, there would be a wave of people who were ready,” he says. “But for a number of reasons, this didn’t happen.” Today, only six Fortune 500 companies are run by Black CEOs—a record high. After decades of leading companies as varied as Citigroup Inc. and the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, Mr. Parsons, 74, felt moved to tackle this pipeline problem himself. Together with a team of venture investors, including Ronald Lauder and Kenneth Lerer , he launched the New York-based Equity Alliance fund in 2021 to “democratize capital” by backing venture funds and early-stage ventures led by women and people of color.

☆ Earth & Beyond launches fund to invest in Israeli space-related firms
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JERUSALEM, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Earth & Beyond Ventures, a new early-stage venture fund investing in Israel’s emerging commercial space ecosystem, said on Thursday it had launched with commitments of $125 million. Earth & Beyond said it was backed by manufacturer and NASA supplier Corning Inc (GLW.N), Japanese electronics giant Kyocera Corp (6971.T), Israeli satellite firm SpaceCom (SCC.TA) and Samtec, a manufacturer of electronic connectivity components. Earth & Beyond said it would invest between $500,000 to $2 million for seed and pre-seed companies in technologies such as semiconductors, robotics, new materials, sensors, smart farms, quantum computing, solar power, cyber security, and alternative proteins. "Our job ... is to identify and support the deep technologies and ideas that can become powerful applications not just here on earth, but in space as well," said Earth & Beyond CEO Baruch Schori. Reporting by Steven Scheer Editing by Ari RabinovitchOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Facebook co-founder Moskovitz funds research into cooling the Earth with sunlight reflection
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

(It's sometimes called solar radiation modification or solar geoengineering.) But it's potentially important, it could be very, very helpful, it could be disastrous," Stone told CNBC. And so it goes for solar geoengineering," Stone said. Everyone perceives it to be controversial," Camilloni told CNBC. "This is no one's Plan A for how you deal with climate risk, and whatever happens, we have to cut our emissions," Stone told CNBC.

The target for Tiger Global’s latest venture fund is down from $6 billion last fall and early expectations of around $12.7 billion. Tiger Global Management is scaling back its plans for a large venture-capital fund, a reversal for the tech investor that epitomized the Silicon Valley startup mania. The New York-based manager told investors it is reducing the target size for its latest venture fund to $5 billion, down from a $6 billion target it set when it began fundraising last fall, according to people familiar with the matter. The $6 billion itself was well below Tiger’s early expectations that it would raise a roughly comparable fund to its last, which totaled $12.7 billion, some investors said.

☆ New York Venture Seed Funding Fell in Fourth Quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Isabelle Bousquette | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

The number of seed funding deals for startups in New York fell 30%, from 185 to 129 between the third and fourth quarter, according to a report by VC fund Primary Venture Partners. Photo: Primary Venture PartnersBrad Svrluga, co-founder and general partner of Primary, said that gradual slowing hit the seed market hard during the fourth quarter. He noted that funding for seed-stage companies in the fourth quarter was nonetheless still up more than 100% since the fourth quarter of 2020. Work-Bench tracked 49 enterprise tech seed deals in New York City last year, slightly down from 51 in 2021, but up from 46 in 2020. Between the third and fourth quarters of 2022, enterprise tech seed deals actually rose from nine to 15, according to Work-Bench figures.

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