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☆ Inside 4 of the biggest VC-basked startups that went public and crashed, from Casper Sleep to Blue Apron
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Bethany Biron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Bird became the latest VC-backed startup showing signs of distress, after hinting at a potential bankruptcy this week. The company is among several former success stories struggling against competition and a tough economy. Here are four of the biggest VC-backed startup downfalls of recent years. Meanwhile, VC-backed startup darlings of recent years — many of which held the vaunted $1 billion valuation unicorn status — are suddenly unable to keep their heads above water. Here's a look at four of the biggest VC-supported startups that went public and crashed in recent years.

☆ 'We will see spectacular failures': CEOs and investors on what the end of cheap money means for tech
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Horacio Villalobos | Getty ImagesLISBON, Portugal — Once high-flying tech unicorns are now having their wings clipped as the era of easy money comes to an end. Rising cost of capitalPrivate tech company valuations are under immense pressure amid rising interest rates, high inflation and the prospect of a global economic downturn. "What we've seen in the last few years was a cost of money that was 0," Pousaz said. Pousaz said investors are yet to find a "floor" for determining how much the cost of capital will rise. 'An entire industry got ahead of its skis'A common topic of conversation at Web Summit was the relentless wave of layoffs hitting major tech companies.

☆ Japan unicorn Opn buys MerchantE to enter U.S. online payment sector
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Digital payments processor Opn, a rare Japanese unicorn, or startup worth more than $1 billion, said on Tuesday it had acquired MerchantE from U.S. investment firm Integrum Holdings, making inroads into the U.S. online payment sector. The deal comes as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government strives to accelerate investments in startups and digital transformation to spur economic growth. "Startups have been getting a tailwind since the start of Prime Minister Kishida's administration," Opn Chief Executive Jun Hasegawa told Reuters. "Besides financial institutions that participated in the financing (for the deal), Japan Bank for International Cooperation and governmental funds such as Japan Investment Corp gave us strong support this time around," he said. Opn, pronounced "open", has been offering services mainly in Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore and Thailand.

☆ Women and family health startup Maven raises $90 million for post-Roe v. Wade world
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Maven, the women and family health startup, has raised $90 million in a new fundraising round, and in a tough environment for venture funding. Maven reached unicorn status last August in a $110 million round right before the bottom dropped out of the tech sector. Maven has benefitted from greater focus on women's health, particularly since the Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade. Global family benefits growth and Medicaid are two areas that Maven is prioritizing with the new funding. The family benefits will build off of the virtual platform that grew during Covid and include new features for Maven Wallet, the company's financial reimbursement platform.

☆ Mark Cuban reveals the 14-second pitch he used to make money at his first sales job
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( Megan Sauer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A 12-year-old Mark Cuban sold trash bags door-to-door. The billionaire serial entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks owner recently told GQ magazine that a family friend gave him the opportunity, marking his first-ever sales job. The friend sold Cuban boxes of trash bags for $3, so Cuban could turn around and sell them around the neighborhood at $6, to save money for sneakers. Cuban said he developed a 14-second pitch for every customer. In 2020, Cuban told the "Raising the Bar" podcast that he receives about 1,000 emailed pitches per day — and he judges them by only their first few sentences.

☆ After huge Meta layoffs, Mark Zuckerberg tells employees that he cut jobs more thoughtfully than Elon Musk at Twitter
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( Sydney Bradley | Rob Price | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

After a terrible week for thousands of Meta employees, Mark Zuckerberg shared some heartening thoughts at a companywide meeting on Friday: At least we didn't mess up as much as Elon Musk did at Twitter. Musk cut roughly 3,700 workers via an unsigned email, after making many staff work most of the prior weekend. On Friday, the Meta CEO and other executives hosted a town hall meeting for remaining employees and answered their questions. The Q&A touched on Twitter, and Zuckerberg weighed in, according to people who attended. Contact Rob Price via encrypted messaging app Signal (+1 650-636-6268), encrypted email (robaeprice@protonmail.com), standard email (rprice@insider.com), Telegram/Wickr/WeChat (robaeprice), or Twitter DM (@robaeprice).

☆ Premarket stocks: Wall Street picks hope over reality after inflation report
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

New York CNN Business —Stocks surged on Thursday in their best day since 2020 after a key inflation indicator came in softer than expected. Investors broke out their party hats as they interpreted the report to mean that peak inflation may finally be behind us. Crypto-advocates were hoping that rising interest and inflation rates would drive investors away from the dollar and into alternative assets like gold and Bitcoin. Then, central banks started raising rates to fight inflation, and the dollar strengthened significantly, seducing investors as the ultimate safe haven. Mortgage rates have risen throughout most of 2022, spurred by the Federal Reserve’s regime of interest rate hikes.

☆ New image from one of Earth's largest telescopes shows a 'star factory' nebula in stunning detail
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A new picture shows a nebula 2,500 light-years away in spectacular detail. The Cone Nebula was snapped by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. An annotated picture shows the nebula on a wide field picture of the sky. At about 2,500 light-years from Earth, the Cone Nebula is relatively close to us, which makes it easy to observe. The Cone Nebula can be found at the tip of the Monoceros (unicorn) constellation ESOThe unicorn constellation is visible in the winter sky from the Northern Hemisphere.

☆ Waivr's founders had failed at their first idea. Here's how they ended up landing $1.4 million for their company.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Emilia David | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

It raised a $1.4 million pre-seed round from Costanoa Ventures, NextView Ventures, CRV, and others. Their first idea was a lot like their payments startup Waivr, but without the focus on subscriptions. That beta test on the market had 300 people, whose transaction data they gathered. The founders noticed that people were overdrafting mainly on subscription payments, so they moved to focus on that. That's how Waivr, a startup seeking to facilitate real-time subscription payments with safeguards to prevent accidental overdrafts, came to be.

☆ Crypto crash and gold sell-off show there’s no place for investors to hide
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Bitcoin prices are currently hovering around $16,500, down from a level of $20,000 just a week ago. Gold, like bitcoin, then surged in the latter part of 2020 as a sort of safe haven trade. Why buy gold or digital assets when the greenback is proving to be the king of currencies? Bitcoin prices have been notoriously volatile over the past few years, but they have still done better than many major stock market indexes. One venture capitalist who focuses on bitcoin and crypto assets agreed that FTX’s problems won’t derail the entire digital assets universe.

☆ With $10.5 million in supergiant seed funding, Caraway launches to bring personalized telehealth to Gen Z women in college
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Samantha Stokes | Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Caraway is a healthtech startup for college women that offers mental, physical, and reproductive care. This woman's experience is one example of how Caraway says it is working to provide personalized mental, physical, and reproductive health services via telehealth to Gen Z women in college. Care specialists provide direct education for students on mental health too, such as techniques to de-escalate stress and anxiety flare-ups. Other startups like Mantra Health, which raised a $22 million Series A last year, also focus on mental health for college students. So far, the startup has 13 "Caraway Campus Ambassadors," or interns, on college campuses in the states it's currently operating in.

☆ The rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes, the former Theranos CEO found guilty of wire fraud and conspiracy, who awaits sentencing in mere days after being denied all three of her motions for a new trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Avery Hartmans | Sarah Jackson | Áine Cain | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Later, technology flaws were exposed, resulting in a months-long trial where Holmes was found guilty on three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy. Now, Holmes is due to be sentenced in a matter of days after a judge denied 3 motions she had filed requesting a new trial. As she awaited trial, Holmes reportedly found the time to get engaged — and married — to a hotel heir named Billy Evans. In January, jurors found Holmes guilty on three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Since then, Holmes has also filed three motions requesting a new trial, all of which the judge ultimately denied.

☆ Databricks is joining rival Snowflake in backing a $1.5 billion startup as they race to own the way companies use their data
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Matthew Lynley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Databricks said it's making a strategic investment in the $1.5 billion data startup Matillion. It's one of a few coinvestments with a rival, Snowflake, as the two race to own the data experience. Another unicorn startup is joining the small club of companies backed by both Snowflake and Databricks, the big-data rivals that are racing to own companies' entire experiences working with their data. The Databricks Ventures partner Andrew Ferguson said Matillion appealed to a slightly different customer profile than that of Databricks' traditional highly technical audience. While data budgets may be getting more scrutiny, there hasn't been any significant impact in the company's performance, he said.

☆ Papaya Global: 2022 Top Startups for the Enterprise
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Cnbc.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Israel is a well-known hub for some of the world's most advanced cybersecurity startups, but Papaya Global is aiming to make the nation known for leading in payroll technology as well. Combining onboarding, payroll and compliance on a global basis for both staff and contract workforces of companies with operations in over 140 countries, investors accelerated funding in 2021 and Papaya reached unicorn status, still a rare feat for a female-led startup. The company now handles over $3 billion in payroll for 700-plus customers including Cyberark, Shopify , Vimeo, Payoneer , Microsoft , Panasonic and fellow Top Startups company Canva. Investors include Workday's VC arm, Sir Ronald Cohen's family investment firm Dynamic Loop Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, New Era Capital and Tiger Global. The 2022 Top Startups for the Enterprise list is powered and inspired by the members of CNBC's Technology Executive Council (TEC).

☆ Thousands of workers were laid off this week as tech companies and startups brace for an economic crash. Investors, founders, and recruiters explain why this is just the beginning.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( Rob Price | Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Amid growing economic uncertainty, layoffs in the technology industry, both for public companies and for startups, have been escalating this Fall. While plenty of tech companies were still flying high in early 2022, Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February accelerated global economic turmoil. More than 17,000 tech workers lost their jobs in both May and June, while July and August saw another 29,000 cuts, according to layoff tracker Layoffs.fyi. Davis, the VC at Interplay, explained that cost-cutting and layoffs are happening across the board, not just in the tech industry. But public tech companies as well as early- and growth-stage startups will face additional challenges, he said.

☆ How Donald Trump could win the White House again in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

"He has surprised everyone before," said Alex Conant, who managed communications for Sen. Marco Rubio's 2016 presidential campaign. Jeb Bush's 2016 presidential campaign and is a Trump critic. John Kasich's presidential campaign, is clear: He predicts neither Trump, President Joe Biden, nor Vice President Kamala Harris will be their respective parties' nominees in 2024. Asked whether Trump could win if he stopped talking about 2020, she replied, "Can Trump turn into a unicorn?" Glenn Youngkin's 2021 campaign in Virginia as well as Sen. Ted Cruz's 2016 presidential campaign.

☆ Their children went viral. Now they wish they could wipe them from the internet.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Morgan Sung | Morgan Sung Is A Trends Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +15 min

Kodye Elyse, a cosmetic tattoo artist, said she "really wasn’t on social media" before then so she barely had any followers. As social media usership increases — especially on video platforms like TikTok — the potential viewership of each video is limitless. Some allege that being so prominently featured on their parents’ social media accounts negatively impacted them. It’s taken a toll on their mental health and shaped how they navigate their own social media presence. They also use their account to advocate for better protections for children online.

☆ Revolut pays some senior talent up to $300,000 in base salary and is still hiring. Here are 3 valuable traits in applicants, according to its global head of HR.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Banking unicorn Revolut is hiring for over 200 positions, as mass layoffs hit the tech industry. Getting a job at Revolut is a highly competitive process, its global head of HR said. Revolut is growing and "expanding in many countries," global head of HR Alexandra Loi said in an interview. The company is being "cautious" in the downturn about hiring the right people for the right roles, but it is still "fully going on with recruitment." Loi said that the company is still hiring for over 200 roles, primarily in engineering, sales, and other corporate functions.

☆ Tiger Global-backed unicorn trading app Public.com set to expand into the European market in 2023 and make acquisitions
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

New York-based trading app Public.com is set to launch in the European market in 2023. The startup, which is valued at $1.2 billion, is backed by Tiger Global and a string of celebrities. Public's shift into the European market comes as talks to acquire Dutch counterpart Bux collapsed. Public.com, a US trading app backed by Tiger Global and a string of high-profile celebrities, is set to enter into the European market next year. The move comes as talks to acquire European counterpart Bux collapsed, a source familiar with the matter said.

☆ Unicorn indie-film studio A24 is in talks to buy the Cherry Lane Theatre, New York's oldest off-Broadway theater
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Cherry Lane Theatre was put back on the market in 2021 after a previous sale fell through. The purchase comes as Hollywood increasingly looks to the theater world for IP and talent. A24, the Oscar-winning studio behind indie hits like "Uncut Gems," "Midsommar," and "Moonlight," is in talks to buy the Cherry Lane Theatre, New York City's oldest continuously running off-Broadway theater, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Cherry Lane was put back on the market in November 2021 after a deal to buy the theater for $11 million fell through amid disagreements over the price. Representatives from the Cherry Lane Theatre and A24 declined to comment on any prospective sale.

☆ A 'magic' new AI tech has become the hottest thing in Silicon Valley, VCs said. Here's why everyone's watching 'generative artificial intelligence.'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The field of generative AI, or AI that can create content, has recently exploded in popularity. Generative AI's rise to popularitySimply put, generative AI refers to artificial intelligence that can create content. Tech advancements over the past few years — specifically transformer and diffusion models — have made generative AI possible. AI models refer to the training and deployment of algorithms on a dataset. "I don't see generative AI today through its early use cases demanding any of those budgets quite yet."

To see how much jobs in the creator economy pay, Insider analyzed salary data from 142 work-visa applications filed with the US government and decided on between October 2020 and June 2022. The pay data includes salaries ranging from a data scientist position that offers $170,000 per year at Discord to a staff engineer role that earns $250,000 or more at Patreon. At Cameo, a principal software engineer would make $230,000Steven Galanis, CEO of Cameo. Senior Manager, DevOps : $140,000: $140,000 Statistician: $116,979 to $170,000 (Spotter said it internally calls this position "Data Analyst.") At Teachable, a senior software engineer would make $150,000Teachable is a platform where creators can build and sell online courses and coaching programs.

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☆ IPO market has unraveled this year
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

But there’s another beast, albeit a mythical one, that has been pretty much absent from the stock market all year: Unicorns. According to data from IPO research firm Renaissance Capital, that was the slowest October for the IPO market since 2011. Many hope to do so instead in 2023 if the broader market improves. With that in mind, other unicorns could go public in 2023 if the IPO window opens up again. Crypto king FTX, sports merchandise leader Fanatics, Fortnite owner Epic Games and mobile bank app Chime are among the top 2023 IPO candidates, according to Wall Street analysts.

☆ This millennial took a gamble during the pandemic. Now her startup has raised over $225 million
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

"A lot of people actually told us that it's a very bold move to actually open an offline presence, while everybody was closing their offline stores [during the pandemic]," she added. But that was a "well-calculated" move for Social Bella, which operates Sociolla. Indiana, the co-founder and chief marketing officer of Social Bella, tells CNBC Make It how she took her Jakarta-based startup to the next level. The makeup junkie realized that in Australia, she had easy access to a wide range of beauty products from international brands. On top of that, the business also operates Soco, which Social Bella says is Indonesia's largest online review service for beauty products.

☆ OpenWeb, Which Helps Publishers Target Readers With Ads, Raises $170 Million
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Patrick Coffee | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

Open Web Technologies Ltd., which helps publishers engage readers and target them with ads, raised $170 million in a Series F round led by Canadian venture firm Georgian Partners, the company said. The new round values OpenWeb at $1.5 billion, up from $1 billion in its previous round, according to the company. It later expanded its services to include live-blogging, polling and data-management tools, as well as the placement of ads across publishers’ sites. OpenWeb counts more than 1,000 publishers as clients, most of which are based in North America, Mr. Shoval said. The company also focuses on content-moderation services to help protect both publishers and readers from harassment, hate speech and offensive content.

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