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☆ Atlassian to buy video messaging provider Loom for nearly $1 billion
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 12 (Reuters) - Atlassian (TEAM.O) said on Thursday it had agreed to acquire privately held video messaging platform Loom for about $975 million, beefing up its team collaboration tools to tap into resilient demand fueled by the adoption of hybrid work. Integration of Loom's technology into Atlassian software such as collaboration tools Jira and Confluence will help users use video in their workflows. The acquisition of Loom, which has more than 25 million users globally, will enable customers communicate and collaborate more effectively, Atlassian said. Loom, which counts Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins and a16z among its investors, makes tools that help users record their screens, camera and microphone to make and share videos. The deal is expected to close in the quarter-ending March 2024 and will be funded with existing cash balances, Atlassian said.

Persons: Atlassian, Kleiner Perkins, Akash Sriram, Shailesh Kuber Organizations: Thomson Locations: Australia, Bengaluru

☆ Series, a fintech helping enterprises automate back-office functions, just raised $25 million in fresh funds with this Notion memo
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Series, a fintech startup that aims to simplify finance and operations management for enterprises, has raised $25 million in fresh funds. The San Francisco-based company, founded in 2021, enables enterprises to handle a vast array of business departments from a single platform. Series' platform allows companies to manage areas including payments operations, business-to-business payments, payroll, HR, and treasury management. Series has raised $25 million across pre-seed and seed funding which it did using a pitch memo in Notion, an increasingly common form of attracting investor attention. Series most recent funding round closed earlier this year and the fresh capital has gone towards hiring as it looks to grow out its 30-strong team.

Persons: Brexton Pham, Kleiner Perkins, Rob Lowe Organizations: Hustle, One Ventures, Caffeinated, Wischoff Ventures Locations: San Francisco, HOF Capital

☆ As Instacart goes public, it's no victory lap for founder Apoorva Mehta
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Mehta was replaced as CEO of Instacart in July 2021 following a messy dispute with some of the company's largest investors. Instacart Founder Apoorva Mehta in his 2003 yearbook photo from Westdale Secondary School. The app started gaining momentum and Mehta put out ads on Craigslist for shoppers to do the grocery runs for him. Whole Foods reportedly broke the news to Mehta and a fellow Instacart executive on an early morning call. In a sworn affidavit, Mehta denies that he misappropriated any trade secrets and says he's since cut ties with Singh.

Persons: Apoorva Mehta, Mehta, Safeway Mehta, Hamilton Public Library Mehta, Bing Gordon, Kleiner Perkins, Gordon, he'd, Garry Tan, Tan, Garry, Andreessen Horowitz, catapulting Mehta, Forbes, Instacart, Mike Moritz, Fidji Simo, Simo, That's, Mehta's, he's, Tejasvi, Singh, Sam Bankman, NextMed, it's Organizations: Instacart, Safeway, Westdale Secondary, Hamilton Public Library, The University of Waterloo, Amazon, NPR, Electronic Arts, YC, TechCrunch, Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, Forbes, Foods, Costco, Kroger, Facebook, Sunrise Locations: India, Libya, Hamilton , Ontario, Toronto, Seattle, San Francisco, wallowing, Sequoia, Mehta's, Marin County

☆ One of the most successful VCs in cybersecurity, Ted Schlien, names 3 new trends to watch
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Julie Bort | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

One of Kleiner Perkins longest-serving investors quietly launched a firm to specialize in security startups. Schlein sees three big new security markets, including an area he's "most scared about." That's partly because strong security startups tend to command higher-than-typical prices when acquired, Schlein says. Security startup trendsSchlein says he currently sees three big trends for next-gen cybersecurity startups. While at Kleiner, Schlein backed startup Apurio, and wrote a check at Ballistic for ArmorCode.

Persons: Kleiner Perkins, Ted Schlein, Schlein, It's, he's Organizations: Ballistic Ventures, Symantec, Security, Companies, Cequence, IT, Software, Hewlett, Packard, ArmorCode Locations: Kleiner

☆ Crypto exchange Rain to target UAE asset managers after winning licence
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Hadeel Al Sayegh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DUBAI, July 25 (Reuters) - Middle Eastern crypto exchange Rain said on Tuesday its Abu Dhabi unit obtained a license to operate a virtual assets brokerage and custody service for clients in the United Arab Emirates. Local asset managers have been hesitant to work with crypto firms without a domestic licence, he continued, adding they will now feel more comfortable after it obtained regulatory approval. Rain, which has units registered in Bahrain and Turkey, said it would use the proceeds on regional expansion. The UAE has been trying to attract some of the world's biggest crypto firms. It has also been trying to develop virtual asset regulation to attract new forms of business as economic competition heats up in the Gulf region.

Persons: Coinbase, Yehia Badawy, Badawy, Kleiner Perkins, Hadeel Al Sayegh, Emma Rumney Organizations: United, United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi Global, Coinbase Ventures, Thomson Locations: DUBAI, Abu, United Arab, The Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, UAE, Silicon Valley, Bahrain, Turkey, Gulf

☆ A trailer for the Bob Marley biopic has dropped. Here’s what we know
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Amy Woodyatt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —A Bob Marley biopic is making its way to the big screen more than 40 years after his death – and a trailer just dropped. Starring Kingsley Ben-Adir as the reggae legend and Lashana Lynch as his wife Rita Marley, “Bob Marley: One Love” explores Jamaican singer-songwriting legend Marley’s burgeoning success with The Wailers in a music feature film slated for release in January 2024. Marley was just 36 when he died of a rare form of cancer in 1981. Watch the Bob Marley: One Love teaser trailer now - Coming to theatres 2024. On the big screen for the first time, discover Bob’s powerful story of overcoming adversity and the journey behind his revolutionary music.”

Persons: Bob Marley, Kingsley Ben, Adir, Lashana Lynch, Rita Marley, “ Bob Marley, ”, Marley’s, Marley, Adir’s, Malcom X, Regina King’s, Reinaldo Marcus Green, Ziggy, Cedella, Rita, Brad Pitt, Robert Teitel, Jeremy Kleiner, Dede Gardner, “ Organizations: CNN, Filmmakers Locations: Jamaica’s, Kingston, Regina, Miami

☆ Norwest Venture Partners just hired ex-Salesforce sales guru David Rudnitsky. Here's why VC firms are now expanding their platform teams.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Norwest has hired ex-Salesforce sales guru David Rudnitsky to be its third operating executive. The hire is part of the firm's recent expansion of its portfolio services team for its founders. Here's why more VC firms may be doubling down on these roles during the market downturn. "We try to be an invited guest in the companies," he said of his work with his first four Norwest portfolio companies. For Norwest, its portfolio services team was launched 13 years ago by partner Katie Belding, who has been at the firm for over two decades.

Persons: Norwest, David Rudnitsky, Rudnitsky, he's, Marc Benioff, I've, It's, Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins, Katie Belding, Belding, Lisa Ames, Renée Cohen Organizations: Norwest Venture Partners, Oracle, Netscape, Salesforce

☆ Legendary VC Vinod Khosla predicted in 2016 that AI would eventually transform healthcare
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Vishal Persaud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In a 2016 paper, Vinod Khosla predicted that there will be some form of automation in healthcare. Buzzy healthcare startups utilizing AI are now capturing the attention of VCs amid a broader wave of AI interest. Hippocratic AI, which recently raised $50 million for its seed round, plans to use machine learning to train AI models for use in healthcare. Carta Healthcare, which uses AI to help healthcare providers cut costs, announced this month it raised $25 million. And New York-based startup Hyro, raised $20 million to replace outdated chatbots in healthcare with conversational AI.

Persons: Vinod Khosla, Khosla, OpenAI, Kleiner Perkins, Chris Sacca's Organizations: –, Carta Healthcare, Harvard Locations: York

☆ How Nvidia-backed A.I. video platform Synthesia works
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailHow Nvidia-backed A.I. video platform Synthesia worksSynthesia is an online platform that helps users create video presentations with artificial intelligence-generated avatars. The company raised $90 million from investors including Accel, Nvidia and Kleiner Perkins at a $1 billion valuation.

Persons: Kleiner Perkins Organizations: Accel, Nvidia

☆ A Nvidia-backed platform that turns text into A.I.-generated avatars boosts valuation to $1 billion
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

In this article NVDA Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTAn animated avatar generated by the AI video platform Synthesia. To do that, Synthesia has created animated avatars which look and sound like humans, but are generated by AI. Synthesia is a form of generative AI, similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT. The company doesn't disclose its sales or revenue metrics, though it says it "consistently driven triple digit growth," with over 12 million videos produced on the platform to date. Synthesia plans to ramp up investment into its technology, with a particular focus on advancing its AI research and making Synthesia avatars capable of performing more tasks.

Persons: Synthesia, Slack, Kleiner Perkins, Morgan Stanley, Victor Riparbelli, Matthias Niessner, Steffen Tjerrild, Lourdes Agapito, Philippe Botteri, Riparbelli, Nvidia isn't, it's, They're, Felix Capital, Atomico, they're, David Beckham, Beckham Organizations: Nvidia, CNBC, Accel, Facebook, Spotify, GV, FirstMark, MMC, YouTube, Netflix, Business, Iconiq, Felix, Meritech Locations: London, A.I

☆ Generative AI startup Synthesia just raised $90 million in fresh funds from US fund Accel and Nvidia at a $1 billion valuation
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

London-based generative AI firm Synthesia has raised $90 million in new funding. Synthesia is now valued at $1 billion, making it the latest AI unicorn despite the difficult market. Generative AI startup Synthesia has raised $90 million in new funding at a unicorn valuation. "What we're also proud of is being a leading AI company that's based in Europe, we intend to stay in Europe and build an impactful AI company here because the talent is available." Synthesia previously raised $50 million in funding in December 2021 in a Series B round led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from GV.

Persons: Synthesia, We've, Victor Riparbelli, OpenAI's, it's, Kleiner Perkins, Riparbelli, David Beckham Organizations: Accel, GV Locations: London, NVentures, Europe

☆ GM hires former Apple executive Abbott to lead software unit
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 9 (Reuters) - General Motors Co (GM.N) on Tuesday named former Apple Inc (AAPL.O) executive Mike Abbott to lead a division that will bring together three software functions within the company. Abbott, whose appointment is effective from May 22, will spearhead development of vehicle and enterprise software technologies. Automakers, including GM and Ford Motor Co (F.N), have been increasingly ramping up their investment on technology and software services amid an electric-vehicle push, as they look to cash in on subscription-based services. At Apple, Abbott led a team responsible for the development of core infrastructure for all of the company's cloud-based services including iCloud, iMessage, Private Relay, Mail and account security. Bloomberg News had in March reported Abbott would step down from his role at the iPhone maker.

☆ More layoffs hit Tom Brady's NFT startup Autograph, which just cut nearly a third of its workforce
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Autograph is a star studded NFT platform cofounded by retired NFL quarterback Tom Brady. This new round of layoffs occurs months after the company laid off dozens of staffers in December. The NFT market has has cooled, with sales expected to plunge 72% this year, according to one estimate. Autograph, the star studded NFT platform cofounded by retired NFL quarterback Tom Brady, has laid off about a third of its workforce, Insider has learned. The NFT market has has cooled considerably, with sales expected to plunge 72% this year, according to one industry estimate.

May 1 (Reuters) - Longtime Kleiner Perkins partner Wen Hsieh is leaving the Silicon Valley venture capital establishment to start a fund with backing from the firm and Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC (2330.TW), sources told Reuters. Hsieh is in advanced talks to raise $200 million from limited partners including Kleiner Perkins and TSMC for the new fund called Matter Ventures. A Kleiner Perkins spokesperson confirmed Hsieh's departure and the firm's participation in the fund. Hsieh, with two PhDs from the California Institute of Technology, has worked at Kleiner Perkins for 17 years, leading investments in Chinese drone maker DJI and 3D printing company Desktop Medal (DM.N). He will remain on the boards of companies he invested in at Kleiner Perkins, including orthodontic brackets maker LightForce.

☆ Generative AI startup Synthesia in talks with US fund Accel to raise funds in a deal that could value it at around $1 billion, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Generative AI startup Synthesia is in talks to raise funds from US firm Accel, sources say. A deal could value the startup at around $1 billion, according to those familiar with the discussions. It is the latest AI startup to benefit from the immense demand from VCs to invest in the sector. AI startup Synthesia is in talks to raise funds in a deal that could value it at around $1 billion as investor demand for the sector continues to intensify, sources say. Fellow London startup ElevenLabs raised $100 million last month while the likes of Fetch.ai and Iris Audio raised $40 million and $7 million respectively.

☆ Dozens of AI enthusiasts gathered in San Francisco's Cerebral Valley for a summit on Thursday. Here are the top 3 takeaways from the event.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Dozens of AI enthusiasts gathered in SF's Cerebral Valley on Thursday for Eric Newcomer's AI summit. The handful of streets between San Francisco's Fillmore and Mission neighborhoods have been called a variety of names in recent times — Cerebral Valley, Bayes Valley, Hayes Valley — but on a Thursday morning in March, they were the home for dozens of AI enthusiasts, founders, and VCs looking to learn more about the space at independent journalist Eric Newcomer's Cerebral Valley AI Summit. The model to rule them allWith representation from several OpenAI competitors, including Anthropic, Adept, and Stability AI, a common question during panels was how the landscape of AI model providers would shake out. Others, like Stability AI founder and CEO Emad Mostaque, claimed that the question of AI models went beyond performance or cost to issues around transparency and accessibility. The future of codingWith the recent AI boom, a flock of startups have emerged to help developers build AI and non-AI applications.

☆ Venture Capital Investors Are Trying to Take Over Pandemic Response
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

Private capital has been eyeing public health for years. Several founders and investors told me that the failure of Kleiner's fund made Silicon Valley wary of investing in pandemic preparedness. Venture investors love that kind of thing. Public health and private industryWhen COVID hit, Charity Dean was the assistant director of the California Department of Public Health. In the end, almost every pandemic-related product created by Silicon Valley will ultimately require the government as a primary customer.

☆ More than 110 VC firms, led by General Catalyst, are banding together in support of Silicon Valley Bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( April Joyner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

More than 110 venture capital firms have signed a statement in support of Silicon Valley Bank. "Silicon Valley Bank has been a trusted and long-time partner to the venture capital industry and our founders," a joint statement from more than 110 firms reads. Hemant Taneja, the CEO of the VC firm General Catalyst, which led the effort to organize support for SVB, tweeted the statement on Friday evening. Alongside General Catalyst, 12 other firms signed the initial statement, including Accel, Greylock, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Upfront Ventures. Some VC firms, including Founders Fund, Y Combinator, and Union Square Ventures, advised their portfolio companies to pull the bulk of their funds out of the bank.

☆ Brad Pitt's production company, Plan B, is not renewing its overall deal with Amazon Studios
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Elaine Low | Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Plan B, the production company cofounded by Brad Pitt, is not renewing its overall deal with Amazon Studios. In late 2022, French company Mediawan acquired a majority stake in Plan B. Brad Pitt's production company, Plan B Entertainment, is not renewing its overall deal with Amazon Studios, Insider has learned. Prime Video's "Paper Girls," produced by Plan B and Legendary Television, was canceled after one season. The move comes in the wake of a December announcement that French media company Mediawan had taken a majority stake in Plan B, with Plan B intending to operate as an independent content creator going forward.

☆ An architect bought a crumbling 19th-century French château and restored it to match the original owners' plans. Now you can rent it for up to $600 a night — see inside.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Claire Turrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Sibylle Thomke, a Swiss architect, bought a 19th-century château in France with her savings in 2017. Sibylle Thomke. "You could buy a three-bedroom apartment in Zurich for the price that I paid for this property," Thomke said. "My biggest concern was how to make sense of the château," Thomke said. As they offer the luxury of a dinner service four nights a week at the château, Thomke chose not to place it on Airbnb.

☆ Inside climate tech's record-breaking year where the energy crisis, new regulation, and a maturing debt market helped European startups raise $17.5 billion
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Climate tech was a clear green shoot in a tumultuous 2022 but there will be a delayed correction. But there has been one green shoot: Climate tech. "We've just gotten started when it comes to climate tech," Emitwise's Cozzi said. Many climate tech companies have raised at high valuations, said Magda Lukaszewicz, principal at Balderton Capital. Energy and infrastructure companies are tipped as winners, while pure software plays may see some consolidation, climate tech investors and founders said.

☆ Wells Fargo faces another setback with $1.7 billion penalty
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

But first, Wells Fargo heads to the penalty box, again. Wells Fargo faces the music. The regulators have once again come knocking at Wells Fargo, and it ain't pretty. Wells Fargo was ordered to pay $2 billion back to customers and pay a $1.7 billion civil penalty by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for illegal activity involving auto loans, mortgages, and deposit accounts that impacted over 16 million accounts. "Wells Fargo is a corporate recidivist," CFPB Director Rohit Chopra told reporters on a call Tuesday, according to The Wall Street Journal, adding that the settlement "should not be read as a sign that Wells Fargo has moved past its longstanding problems."

☆ Tom Brady's NFT company, Autograph, has laid off dozens of people after severing ties with board member Sam Bankman-Fried
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Tom Brady cofounded Autograph at the height of the NFT sports boom. Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried joined the board of the company last year. Insider has learned the company has laid off dozens of employee and cut ties with Bankman-Fried. Autograph, the buzzy NFT platform cofounded by NFL star Tom Brady, has laid off dozens of staffers after separately severing ties with former board member Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of FTX, Insider has learned. Bankman-Fried joined the board of directors last year several months after Brady and his then wife, Gisele Bundchen, invested in FTX.

☆ Arun Majumdar's mom cooked over a coal stove on the floor, and now he's the first leader of Stanford's new climate school — here is his story
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Building a successful climate school that both educates people and scales up technological solutions in its accelerator arm requires thinking beyond the bubble of Silicon Valley. Majumdar's understanding of the importance of a global perspective for the climate school is also personally informed. He was also a professor, did research, and worked at Google for a stint before eventually getting the opportunity to lead the launch of the Stanford climate school. The lessons he learned at ARPA-E are helping form the foundation for the accelerator arm at the Stanford climate school. Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability Photo courtesy Cat Clifford, CNBCSo far, the sustainability school at Stanford seems to be popular with students.

☆ The rise of Snowflake created a hole in Salesforce's long-dominant ecosystem, and now startups are rushing in to seize the opportunity
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Matthew Lynley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

A new category called "reverse ETL" is emerging as startups race to fill a gap created by Snowflake. But in recent years, a substantial shift has emerged in the way companies manage their data, dovetailing with the rise of cloud providers like Snowflake and Databricks. How reverse ETL was born to fill a hole that Salesforce left wide openThe notion of a reverse-ETL pipeline isn't necessarily new. The future of reverse ETL might not be where it startedMany investors who did not invest in reverse ETL who spoke with Insider said they were surprised the friction was so large that it was able to support a single company, much less three. "We partner with great tools like Hightouch and Census for reverse ETL to SaaS applications."

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