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The creator economy buzz has simmered down but some startups are still catching investors' attention. Insider asked over a dozen VCs and angel investors to share which startups are on their radar. Here are 14 startups to watch in the creator economy as 2023 comes to a wrap. Yes, the buzz around the creator economy has fizzled out and consolidation has swept through the industry, but some startups are still catching the attention of investors. Insider asked more than a dozen venture capital and angel investors specializing in the creator economy, from firms including Hustle Fund, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and MaC Ventures, about the creator startups they think are most promising this year.

Organizations: Hustle Fund, Lightspeed Venture Partners, MaC Ventures

☆ Insider is seeking nominations for the 2023 rising stars of venture capital
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Insider is putting together a list of the best up-and-coming venture capitalists of 2023. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementAdvertisementWe are seeking nominations for Insider's yearly list of rising stars of venture capital, and we want to hear from you. In the past, we've had people with a variety of roles and experiences from VC funds like Founders Fund, Greylock Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Tiger Global, and Spark Capital. Please email Madeline Renbarger at mrenbarger@insider.com or Samantha Stokes at sstokes@insider.com with any questions or issues submitting your nominations.

Persons: VCs, —, we've, Madeline Renbarger, Samantha Stokes Organizations: Service, Founders, Greylock Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Tiger Global, Spark Locations: mrenbarger@insider.com, sstokes@insider.com

Insider spoke with startup founders and VCs who are managing companies while aiding the war effort. Startup founders and employees have traveled back to Israel from their homes abroad to take up arms and defend their country. The call to serveIn Israel, military service is mandatory for all citizens over 18. These startup founders and employees are using the skills they use every day like problem solving, multitasking and leading during the war effort. "I'm lucky to be a cofounder not a sole founder, so I'm relying on my cofounder," Kandel explained.

Persons: Israel, VCs, —, Oren Kandel, I'm, We're, Munch, Kandel, Isaac Gili, Jon Medved, David, Noy, Danielle Eisenberg, Leyb, Eisenberg, I've, Medved, Oren Kandel Kandel, that's, Ben Yellin, Ofer Sharon, Itamar Friedman, " Eisenberg, Tasmin Lockwood Organizations: Palestinian, Hamas, Service, Wednesday, Israeli Defense Forces, Startup, Israel Relief, Microsoft, Israel, Tel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, GGV, Insight Partners Locations: Gaza, Israel, Gedera, New York, cyberintelligence, Tel Aviv, Binyamina

On day one of Sam Bankman-Fried's criminal trial, assistant U.S. attorney, Danielle Sassoon, rattled off a lengthy list of potential witnesses who might be called to testify for either the government or the defense. The list, which was compiled jointly by both sides, was released during the afternoon session and included Bankman-Fried's brother, Gabe, as well his parents, Allan Joseph Bankman and his wife, Barbara Fried. Parents of the disgraced former CEO of FTX are themselves the subject of new scrutiny. Other entities that may take the witness stand included various venture funds and crypto-focused companies like Genesis, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Ontario Teachers Pension Fund, Third Point, Signature Bank, and Voyager Digital. Many of these businesses were hurt or wiped out by the collapse in cryptocurrency prices triggered in part by FTX's implosion.

Persons: Sam Bankman, Danielle Sassoon, Gabe, Allan Joseph Bankman, Barbara Fried, Ellison, FTX, Wang, Anthony Scaramucci, Fried Alfred Lin, Sequoia Capital Zac Prince, Michael Lewis Organizations: Alameda Research, U.S, SkyBridge, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Ontario, Pension Fund, Signature Bank, Voyager Locations: Bankman, Manhattan

☆ Carbon accounting startup Plan A just raised $27 million in a round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with this 11-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Carbon accounting startup Plan A has just secured $27 million in a round led by Californian tech investor Lightspeed Venture Partners. Berlin-based Plan A, founded in 2017, is one of many startups helping big companies measure and manage their carbon emissions. Carbon accounting companies raised $5 billion at the sector's 2021 peak, per PitchBook, as venture capitalists and large asset managers piled into the buzzy category. One way Plan A differentiates itself is its steady pace, cofounder and CEO Lubomila Jordanova told Insider. Operating in a hype market can be tricky because it deflates the value of carbon accounting in the long term, she said.

Persons: Lubomila Jordanova, Jordanova Organizations: Lightspeed Venture Partners, Visa, Deutsche Bank, Opera Tech Ventures, BNP, BMW, BMW Group, Greenhouse, TÜV Rheinland Locations: Berlin, Europe, France, Scandinavia, Paris, London

☆ As the IPO market comes back to life, Navan (formerly TripActions) is targeting an April 2024 listing
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The company is now targeting a late April 2024 IPO, Insider has learned. Navan, formerly known as TripActions, is now targeting a late April 2024 IPO, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter not authorized to speak publicly. However, this month the nearly two year dormant IPO market has finally shown signs of coming to life. Andreessen Horowitz first invested in TripActions in 2018, when it led the company's series C funding round at a $1.1 billion valuation and general partner Ben Horowitz joined the board. Navan has raised more than $2 billion in equity and debt financing since it was founded 2015, according to Pitchbook.

Persons: Ariel Cohen, Kelly Soderlund, Instacart, Goldman Sachs, Andreessen Horowitz, Ben Horowitz, It's, " Horowitz Organizations: Navan, NASDAQ, Bloomberg, Softbank, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coatue Management, Zeev Ventures Locations: Navan, Caplight, TripActions

☆ It's 'misguided' to compare India with China, says venture capital firm
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | 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 EmailIt's 'misguided' to compare India with China, says venture capital firmBejul Somaia, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, says "I wish we would stop labeling markets as the next X or the next Y … because every country is different."

Persons: Bejul Somaia Organizations: Lightspeed Venture Partners Locations: India, China

☆ AI investment is booming. How much is hype?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-23 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The investment into Mistral AI is just one of many this year by venture capitalists jostling for a seat aboard the AI rocketship. In the first six months of 2023, they plowed $15.2 billion into generative AI companies globally, according to Pitchbook data. The bulk of this sum comes from Microsoft (MSFT)’s $10 billion investment, announced in January, in OpenAI, the developer of popular generative AI chatbot ChatGPT. But even excluding Microsoft’s bumper deal, the value of VC investments in generative AI was up by almost 58% compared with the same period in 2022. “Buying a ‘dot-ai’ domain, and claiming to be an AI company… doesn’t really make you an AI company,” Jacobs told CNN.

Persons: Antoine Moyroud, wasn’t, ”, Arthur Mensch, Nathan Laine, hasn’t, ” Mostaque, jostling, Moyroud, ’, ’ “, “, ” Moyroud, It’s, Jaap Arriens, Goldman Sachs, Stocks, Mike Reynolds, Reynolds, —, “ It’s, ” Reynolds, ” Jordan Jacobs, … doesn’t, ” Jacobs Organizations: London CNN, Lightspeed Venture Partners, CNN, Mistral, Viva Tech, Bloomberg, Getty, Stability, Microsoft, Meta, Nvidia, Nasdaq, Cisco, Radical Ventures Locations: French, Paris, California, OpenAI, —, Toronto

☆ Meet 17 medical doctors at VC firms like GV and Khosla Ventures who are investing in the next big healthcare startups
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Some medical school graduates are bringing their expertise to the world of startup investing. Take a look at 17 doctors who are now investing at VC firms like GV and Khosla. And still others, including Khosla Ventures' Alex Morgan and Galym Imanbayev of Lightspeed Venture Partners, jumped directly to a VC firm after graduating from medical school. Even so, VCs with medical degrees all say they feel that their medical school training has been invaluable in terms of understanding a health startup's business. Take a look at Insider's list of 17 medical doctors who are now VCs at top firms like GV, Khosla Ventures, and more.

Persons: —, laud, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, Jack Dorsey, Chris Kager, Robert Mittendorf, Alex Morgan, Galym, Alice Zheng Organizations: MDs, GV, Khosla, Global Health, Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, University of Michigan Medical School, RH Capital

☆ A.I. is a $1 trillion investment opportunity but will be 'biggest bubble of all time,' CEO predicts
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Emad Mostaque, founder and CEO of Stability AI, speaks during the Bloomberg Technology Summit in San Francisco, California, US, on Thursday, June 22, 2023. Artificial intelligence will be the biggest bubble of all time, according to the CEO of open-source AI company Stability AI. Speaking with UBS analysts on a call last week, Stability AI CEO Emad Mostaque said of artificial intelligence: "I think this will be the biggest bubble of all time." "I call it the 'dot AI' bubble, and it hasn't even started yet," he said. Stability AI is the company behind Stable Diffusion, one of the other more popular generative AI tools aside from OpenAI.

Persons: Emad Mostaque, hasn't, chatbot, Google Bard, Microsoft Bing, Mostaque, Reid Hoffman Organizations: Bloomberg Technology Summit, UBS, Coatue, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mostaque, Google, Microsoft Locations: San Francisco , California, U.S

☆ Galym Imanbayev went from Stanford School of Medicine to venture capital. Here's why he says his medical training has been so crucial to becoming an investor at Lightspeed.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

During his senior year of high school, Imanbayev discovered another interest, entirely by chance. After mistiming his MCAT, Imanbayev faced one gap year before he could start medical school. As he jumped into the grueling demands of medical school, Imanbayev said that for everything he studied, there were additional things he wanted to add on and learn. Helping Lightspeed push into healthtech investingSince 2020, Imanbayev has been a partner at Lightspeed focusing on the health sector. Imanbayev himself has spearheaded investments for Lightspeed in the healthcare-equity startup Soda Health and the virtual-care startup Wheel.

Persons: Galym Imanbayev, he'd, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, Jack Dorsey, Imanbayev, Imanbayev's, Dean Lloyd Minor's Organizations: Stanford, VC, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Co, Oregon Health & Science University, Martis, Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Lightspeed, Ancora Biotech, Soda Health Locations: Kazakhstan, Soviet Union, Portland , Oregon

June 29 (Reuters) - Typeface, a generative AI platform for enterprise content creation, said on Thursday that it was valued at $1 billion after an oversubscribed Series B funding round led by Salesforce's (CRM.N) global investment arm, bringing the total capital raised to $165 million. The $100 million round also saw participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Madrona, GV (Google Ventures), Menlo Ventures, and M12, Microsoft's Venture Fund, the company said. In February, Lightspeed Venture Partners, GV, Menlo Ventures, and M12 invested $65 million when Typeface emerged from stealth and launched publicly. AI startups have emerged as a bright spot for investments this year amid a wider slowdown in funding caused by rising interest rates and high inflation. Editing by Gerry DoyleOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Salesforce's, Gokul, Krystal Hu, Gerry Doyle Organizations: Lightspeed Venture Partners, GV, Google Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Microsoft's Venture Fund, Google, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru, Toronto

☆ Climate startup Supercritical nabbed $13 million to help carbon removal projects get funded. Check out the 11-slide pitch deck it used to secure the funds from Lightspeed.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

London-based startup Supercritical just raised $13 million to help projects get funded via companies. London-based startup Supercritical has just raised $13 million from Lightspeed Venture Partners to help the "groundswell" of businesses pledging to invest in carbon removal. That's where carbon removal — tree-planting, sucking CO2 from the air using technology, or enhanced rock weathering — comes in. Long term, it wants to be the "no brainer" option for carbon removal purchases. Check out the 11-slide redacted pitch deck Supercritical used to raise the funds.

Persons: we've, Michelle You, Aaron Randall, Carbo Organizations: Lightspeed Venture Partners, Paris, Frontier Fund, RTP Global, Greencode Ventures, MMC Ventures Locations: London

☆ France's Mistral AI raises 105 mln euros shortly after being set up
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Sudip Kar-Gupta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The fund-raising highlights the rapid growth of the artificial intelligence (AI) sector as well as Europe's desire to create rivals to Silicon Valley companies such as Microsoft-backed (MSFT.O) OpenAI and Google's (GOOGL.O) DeepMind. Paris-based Mistral AI was set up by former Meta (META.O) and Google artificial intelligence researchers Timothee Lacroix, Guillaume Lample and Arthur Mensch. Mistral AI's fund-raising was led by international venture capital fund Lightspeed Venture Partners. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is also a shareholder in Mistral AI. "Bravo to the start-up Mistral AI which has raised 105 million euros just a month after its creation: a record!"

Persons: Schmidt, Xavier Niel, Rodolphe Saade, Timothee Lacroix, Guillaume Lample, Arthur Mensch, Mensch, Mistral, Eric Schmidt, Jean, Noel Barrot, Bravo, Sudip Kar, David Evans, Leslie Adler Organizations: Lightspeed Venture Partners, Microsoft, Meta, JCDecaux, Italy's Exor Ventures, Mistral, Paris, Twitter, Thomson Locations: PARIS, Silicon, DeepMind, Paris, France, Europe, New York , California, London

☆ Venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz to open first office outside of the US in London as it bets on the UK to become leader in crypto regulation
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz is set to open its first office outside of the US in London. The Silicon Valley giant is betting on the UK to become a leader in crypto regulation. Venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz is set to open its first office outside of the US in London as it bets on the British government to become a leader in crypto regulation. Meanwhile, venture capital funding to crypto companies has collapsed over the past year. Andreessen general partner Chris Dixon said that crypto was still in its "early innings" and that technology takes "decades to develop," in a blog post announcing the London office.

Persons: Andreessen Horowitz, Chris Dixon, Sriram Krishnan, Binance, Rishi Sunak, Dixon, Sunak, there's Organizations: Venture, Twitter, Facebook, Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, School from, Catalyst, Bessemer, Lightspeed Venture Partners Locations: London, Europe, School from London, Silicon, Sequoia

☆ The decision to split Sequoia Capital into 3 entities puts to bed any questions of a power struggle at the VC powerhouse
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

VC powerhouse Sequoia Capital announced Tuesday that it is splitting into three entities. One of those entities, Sequoia China, known locally as HongShan, will operate as a distinct firm. The mighty Sequoia Capital is dropping branches. The decision puts to bed any question of a power struggle at one of Silicon Valley's most respected firms. And unlike some other global firms that had veto power over investments overseas, according to Bloomberg, Sequoia China had full autonomy to strike its own deals.

Persons: Roelof Botha, Neil Shen, Forbes, Alex Konrad, Doug Leone, Instagram, Bytedance, Botha, Shen, Julian Bek, Elon Musk's Organizations: Sequoia Capital, Sequoia, XV Partners, YouTube, Bloomberg, Shen, Sequoia China, Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Accel, Elon, Twitter, Fidelity Locations: Sequoia China, China, Europe, HongShan, India, Southeast Asia, Sequoia, Sequoia Capital China, Asia, Silicon Valley, London, FTX

Rubrik may raise more than $750 million in its IPO, three of the sources added, though that may change based on market conditions as the preparations are still at an early stage. Rubrik currently generates annual recurring revenue of about $600 million, one of the sources said. Three of the sources said Rubrik could choose to go public in 2024, if the IPO market becomes more welcoming. Founded in 2014 by venture capitalist Bipul Sinha, Rubrik makes cloud-based ransomware protection and data-backup software. SoftBank-backed Cohesity Inc, which competes with Rubrik, is also preparing to go public, having filed confidentially for an IPO in late 2021, Reuters reported.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Rubrik, Bipul Sinha, Johnson, Echo Wang, Milana Vinn, Krystal Hu, Matthew Lewis Organizations: YORK, Microsoft Corp, Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc, Barclays, Citi, Nvidia Corp, Depot Inc, Bain Capital Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Kenvue Inc, Johnson, SoftBank Group Corp, Inc, Reuters, Cohesity Inc, Thomson Locations: U.S, Palo Alto , California, ., New York

☆ I've been building popular tech products like Tome since I became my family's breadwinner at 15 years old. I've learned you never know how people are going to use your creation.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Keith Peiris is the co-founder of Tome, a storytelling tool that uses generative AI models like GPT-4 and Dall-E-2. At the same time, I also learned that no one uses your tools the way you envisioned. The truth is that everyone uses tools differently, so you need to build them in a permissive way. When we started building Tome in the early days of the pandemic, my cofounder, Henri Liriani, and I thought we were building for someone we knew. Now, they're using Tome, which is a use case I had never even thought about.

☆ Base10 Partners is offering its limited partners direct access to investing in unicorn startups in order to compete against VC firms with much bigger funds. Here's how.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( April Joyner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Limited partners, the investors that back VC firms, are seeking out more direct deals in startups. But often LPs don't get in until long after the VC firms have invested, so they get smaller returns. VC firm Base10 Partners has launched a program to give LPs earlier access and more upside. As the exuberance in venture capital has crashed to a halt, the institutions that back VC firms, known as limited partners, have had plenty to grouse about. The VC firm Base10 Partners seeks to offer its own limited partners a remedy to this dilemma.

☆ AI storytelling startup Tome records fast user growth, to launch paid tier soon
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Krystal Hu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 23 (Reuters) - Artificial intelligence storytelling startup Tome has seen its user numbers triple in a month to 3 million and is planning to launch a paid subscription in the coming weeks, Chief Executive Keith Peiris told Reuters, as AI products grow in popularity. Tome is also adding a document-to-presentation feature powered by GPT-4, the latest foundation model released by Microsoft-backed OpenAI. The feature enables users to turn a document of up to 25 pages into AI-generated slides with text and soon photos, competing head-to-head with Microsoft's (MSFT.O) AI "Copilot". "It's a push into work and enterprise use cases for us after all the demand we've seen," said Peiris, co-founder of Tome. Tome's product is currently free to use, while it will soon launch a paid tier that costs about $10 a month to guarantee unlimited access for users, Peiris said.

☆ Exclusive: $7 billion tech unicorn Carta bet big on managing employee equity for public companies. Now it's telling them to get off its platform.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

$7 billion unicorn Carta is officially retreating from its equity management software for public companies, according to multiple sources Insider has spoken to. Thousands of private companies use the platform to track company and employee ownership, process venture investments, and administer employee stock programs, among a slew of other services. Carta had seen the company through its 2017 public listing on the London Stock Exchange, helping its employees and shareholders navigate the complex world of public stock markets. Transfer agents are regulated entities that all public companies are required to use to track stock ownership. "I guess getting into the public markets is something that they sort of dipped their toe in and now want to withdraw," he 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.

☆ Exclusive: Carta's fired CTO accuses CEO Henry Ward of deceiving regulators, abusing employees, and misappropriating funds
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

In a new legal filing Carta's former CTO accuses the company's CEO of a litany of misdeeds. New details have emerged in the ongoing lawsuit between $7 billion startup Carta and its former CTO Jerry Talton. Four days after submitting that letter, Talton was placed on administrative leave. On December 23, 2022, two months after sending his letter, Talton was fired and stripped of $10 million of unexercised stock options, according to Wednesday's filing. The legal filing claims that the company "invaded Talton's privacy and inserted these salacious elements in the complaint simply to malign him."

Powering AI Dungeon's text-generation software was the GPT language technology offered by the Microsoft -backed AI research lab OpenAI. The high cost of training and "inference" — actually running — large language models is a structural cost that differs from previous computing booms. Many entrepreneurs see risks in relying on potentially subsidized AI models that they don't control and merely pay for on a per-use basis. Companies making the foundation models, semiconductor makers, and startups all see business opportunities in reducing the price of running AI software. "Latitude is going to continue to evaluate all AI models to be sure we have the best game out there."

☆ 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.

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