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☆ 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

☆ Check out the 12-slide pitch deck marketing tech company Simon Data used to raise $54 million in fresh funds
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Martech company Simon Data raised a $54 million Series D round this month. Marketing technology company Simon Data raised $54 million in fresh funds earlier this month as it plans to bolster its research and development division. The problem isn't collecting data — it's enabling data for business stakeholders to access it," said Simon Data cofounder and CEO Jason Davis. He said Simon Data was likely to grow somewhere between 45% and 50% this year. The Simon Data Series D round was led by Australian financial group Macquarie Capital with participation from existing investors, including Polaris, .406, and F-Prime.

Persons: Simon Data, Simon, Jason Davis, Davis Organizations: Macquarie Capital, Marketing, The, JetBlue, Bombas, Australian, Polaris Locations: The New York

From Karat to Spill, venture capitalists are betting on creator-focused companies in 2023.Insider is highlighting 14 VC firms that are backing startups in the space right now. About three years ago, the "creator economy" was a fiery buzzword that emerged out of the bustling influencer-marketing and social-media industries. By 2021, the space had raised approximately $939 million in venture capital, according to Crunchbase data. Insider is highlighting over a dozen VC firms, as well as their partners who specialize in creator-focused startups, that are funding the next wave of creator-economy companies. Here are 14 VC firms funding the creator economy in 2023:Note: Firms are listed in alphabetical order.

Persons: Marlon Nichols, Nichols, Karat Organizations: MaC Venture

☆ There's a brewing backlash against DEI in corporate America — and a venture capital fund getting sued for racial bias is now caught in the middle
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Vishal Persaud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

VC firm Fearless Fund is being sued by the group behind the Supreme Court affirmative action case. The conservative group claims a grant program run by Fearless Fund is racially discriminatory. It also led some companies like Bank of America, Mastercard , PayPal and others to earmark millions of dollars to fund and address the racial funding gap. A small, Atlanta-based, Black women-led venture firm called Fearless Fund was one of them. "Their motive is clear: they want to disrupt the vital work of Fearless Fund and similar institutions and organizations whose primary mission is to provide underrepresented communities with an economic engine to build, sustain and scale their businesses," said Fearless Fund in a press release.

Persons: George Floyd, Edward Blum, Arian Simone, Ayana Parsons, George Floyd's, Eghosa Omoigui, Yasmin Cruz Ferrine, Ferrine, VCs Organizations: Fearless, Morning, Bank of America, Mastercard, PayPal, American Alliance for Equal Rights, Civil, Costco, MasterCard, Street Journal, Netflix, Disney, Warner Bros, Wall Street Journal, Pew Research Center, Microsoft, Walmart, TechCrunch Locations: Minneapolis, Atlanta, America

☆ A backlash is brewing against DEI in corporate America — and a venture-capital fund facing a racial-bias lawsuit is caught in the middle
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Vishal Persaud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

☆ Deepset, an AI startup that helps companies build apps with LLMs, just raised $30 million with this 12-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Deepset, a German AI startup that offers LLM developer tools, has raised $30 million. The company wants to expand its Haystack product and grow its presence in the US. German AI startup Deepset has raised $30 million in a round led by Revolut investor Balderton Capital. Deepset's capital raise comes as AI startups account for a higher proportion of venture capital dealmaking. AI startups raised $25 billion in the opening half of the year against a backdrop of falling VC investment, Crunchbase data shows.

Persons: Milos Rusic, Rusic Organizations: Balderton Capital, Airbus, Siemens, Balderton, GV, Harpoon Ventures Locations: London, Berlin

☆ Dropoff in venture capital funding triggers uptick in pre-emptive deals with investors desperate to back the hottest startups
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Venture capital funding was cut in half in the first six months of 2023, according to Crunchbase. The dropoff has triggered an uptick in pre-empted deals, where investors back the most exciting startups. Payrails, Cello, and ElevenLabs are among the startups to close pre-emptive deals this year. Venture capital funding to startups has continued to collapse in 2023. The slowdown has led to something of an uptick in pre-empted funding rounds, where investors come forward with deal terms to exciting early-stage businesses before they even begin fundraising.

Persons: VCs, Tom Mendoza Organizations: Venture, Crunchbase, Energy, EQT Ventures Locations: London, Berlin

From Karat to Spill, venture capitalists are betting on creator-focused companies in 2023.Insider is highlighting 14 VC firms that are backing startups in the space right now. By 2021, the space had raised approximately $939 million in venture capital, according to Crunchbase data. Many startups have raised money in 2023, from pre-seed stages to larger later-stage rounds. Insider is highlighting over a dozen VC firms, as well as their partners who specialize in creator-focused startups, that are funding the next wave of creator-economy companies. Here are 14 VC firms funding the creator economy in 2023:Note: Firms are listed in alphabetical order.

Persons: Marlon Nichols, Nichols, Karat Organizations: MaC Venture

☆ AI startups have raised almost $29 billion this year. Researchers say a lot more needs to go to companies working to prevent it from becoming an existential threat.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

While investors have poured billions into AI startups, concern about AI's capabilities has grown. People don't all have the same value systems, so AI alignment can look different depending on where the AI is operated and deployed. Investors poured $29 billion into AI startups in the first six months of 2023. Aligned AI. The drive to fund AI safetyAI researchers are also vigilant about where the funds for AI safety and alignment come from.

Persons: ChatGPT, Stuart Armstrong, Rebecca Gorman, —, Gorman, OpenAI's Sam Altman, Demis Hassabis, Bill Gates, Connor Leahy, Leahy, it's, Sam Bankman, Ian Hogarth, Hogarth Organizations: Oxford University, Investors, Alameda Research, FTX Locations: London

There are thousands of firms out there, each with their own specialties and varied track records. We've narrowed it down to the best 75 based on data from Crunchbase and the firms themselves. Given that, Insider created the Seed 75 list as a new member to our Seed 100 and Seed 30 lists of the best individual seed investors. Some companies verified the Crunchbase data, some didn't respond but most others supplied us with updated data. What follows is the top 75 seed firms who scored at the top of our weighted scale.

Persons: We've Organizations: Crunchbase Locations: Crunchbase

Silicon Valley is bracing for what it fears will be an "extinction event" threatening the survival of hundreds of startups. Tom Loverro, a investor at 40-year-old Bay Area venture capital firm IVP, has been loudly warning for months on Twitter and in media interviews about a coming "mass extinction event" for startups. The total volume of venture capital investment into US startups has slumped for six consecutive quarters, according to data firm Pitchbook. Even a last-ditch slashing of the startup's prospective valuation — a "down-round," in Silicon Valley parlance — didn't whet investors' appetites. Over the past year, many startups that rely on Silicon Valley funding have been steeling themselves for the slowdown to avoid similar fates.

Persons: —, they're, Jennifer Neundorfer, That's, Tom Loverro, Loverro, Consuelo Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt, Cameron Lester, I've, Lester, Linda Ahrens, Ahrens, Unown, " Ahrens, Anna Dittrich, Plastiq, Vincent Harrison, Elad Gil, Steve Brotman, Brotman, Will Hawthorne, VC's, Mike Ryan, Pitchbook's Harrison, Sell, Hawthorne Organizations: Ventures, Sequoia Capital, —, Venture, Twitter, United States Federal Reserve, Jefferies, January Ventures, Alpha Partners, Avid Capital, Sugar, Menlo, BulletPoint Network Locations: Silicon, Sequoia, IVP, Valley, Instacart, Navan, Boston, Snowflake, America

☆ After a ‘safe sex’ lecture, this 30-year-old co-founded a company to bring at-home STD tests to the LGBTQ community
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Gili Malinsky | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

In 2019, he co-founded Ash Wellness, which now offers at-home diagnostic testing for "everything from HIV, cholesterol, lipids," he says, and more. Thus far, the company has raised $6.6 million in funding, according to Crunchbase. People at the facility where he was getting tested "start to give me a lecture on safe sex," he says. "It cost us $150 to acquire a patient and our testing kits sold for just under $150." They sold them about 250 testing kits and over the next month sold kits to three more B2B clients.

Persons: David Stein, Stein, He's, Cornell Tech's, Kyle Waters, Mio Akasako, Nick Sempere Organizations: U.S, Ash Wellness, George Washington University, Cornell, Villanova, University, PrEP Locations: Philadelphia, San Francisco

☆ Meet the new CEO of Alibaba
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Lina Batarags | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Cofounder Eddie Wu will replace Daniel Zhang as CEO, the company announced Tuesday. The move comes three months after Alibaba announced it would split into six groups. Eddie Wu, currently the chairman of Taobao and Tmall Group, will take over as CEO from Daniel Zhang, Alibaba Group announced Tuesday. After Zhang steps down from his role, he will lead Alibaba's Cloud Intelligence Group as chairman and CEO, the company announced. History at Alibaba: He's one of the cofounders of Alibaba, and he currently serves as a senior vice president overseeing three business units, per Crunchbase.

Persons: Eddie Wu, Daniel Zhang, Alibaba, Zhang, Joseph C . Tsai, who's, Wu Organizations: Morning, Tmall, Alibaba, Cloud Intelligence Group, Zhejiang University of Technology Locations: China

☆ Cava IPO comes in a little too hot
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The company’s IPO raised $318 million, about $30 million more than it had expected a few days earlier, to fuel its expansion. And just in time for the afternoon lunch rush, its shares opened on the New York Stock Exchange at nearly double its IPO price. That implies Cava’s valuation is close to $5 billion, over twice the amount private investors ascribed it in 2021. Cava is a lot like Sweetgreen – neither are profitable, and both have a similar number of stores. But Cava now trades at more than five times its theoretical annualized sales based on the first quarter, much higher than the 1.4 times Sweetgreen commands.

Persons: Cava, copycats, Anita Ramaswamy, John Foley, Katrina Hamlin Organizations: YORK, Reuters, New York Stock Exchange, Twitter, Corporate, Thomson Locations: Crunchbase, Cava

☆ Bank of America makes $500 million equity push for minority- and women-led funds
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Yuheng Zhan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Bank of America has committed to giving more than $500 million in equity investments to minority- and women-led fund managers to support diverse entrepreneurs, the bank announced Thursday in a press release. The program started in 2020 and so far, more than 150 funds have used the equity to invest in upward of 1,000 companies, collectively controlling $7 billion of capital, Bank of America said. This translates to support for 1,500 diverse entrepreneurs and the employment of more than 21,000 people. Bank of America is also separately working with the National Football League and National Black Bank Foundation to support Black- and minority-owned banks, CNBC's Frank Holland reported. "We're very focused on supporting our fund managers," Nguyen said.

Persons: Nguyen, Gabrielle Fonrouge, CNBC's Frank Holland Organizations: of America, Bank of America, National Football League, National Black Bank Foundation Locations: Crunchbase

☆ European tech fund EQT Growth set to poach investor from Goldman Sachs who will join as a new partner, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

European venture fund EQT is set to hire a Goldman Sachs investor as a partner, Insider understands. A managing director from Goldman Sachs Growth Equity is set to join the fund, sources say. An investor at Goldman Sachs' startup investment arm is set to depart the banking giant to join up with Swedish private equity and venture firm EQT Growth, Insider understands. Kirk Lepke, a London-based managing director at Goldman Sachs Growth Equity, is primed to be poached by the Stockholm investor, two sources familiar with the matter said. Both EQT Growth and Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Kirk Lepke, Lepke, EQT, Mollie, Lepke's, Julien Bek Organizations: Goldman Sachs Growth Equity, Goldman, DoorDash, Torch, Summit Partners, Apple Locations: Europe, London, Stockholm, New York, Boston, Lithuanian, Crunchbase

☆ A startup 'mass extinction event' has begun. You can't see it clearly yet, but it's going to be bad.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Alistair Barr | Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Startups raised a ridiculous amount of money in recent years through 2021. Startup failure rate is beginning to increase, from artificially low levels in 2021, and there could be a wave of capitulation in the next year where an unusually large number of startups shut down. There was a frenzy of investment, where startups raised massive amounts of money and some businesses got funding that maybe shouldn't have. The money spigot has run dryNow, the money spigot has run dry (except if you're an AI startup). There was so much money raised in recent years that startups have a lot of runway to survive.

Persons: Tom Loverro, Klarna, Loverro, VCs, spigot, pare, We'll, Melia Russell Organizations: Venture, Street Journal, Tiger Global

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Apple Vision Pro, Big Tech's big AI salaries, and Marc Andreessen's plan to save the world
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Apple Vision Pro. Apple's Vision Pro looks amazing, but why buy it? The Vision Pro also comes with a host of caveats beyond the price tag, such as a battery life of just two hours. Read more about the Apple Vision Pro's limits here. He said AI companies should be able to build fast and aggressively — and without regulation.

Persons: Nathan Rennolds, let's, Tony Fadell, Apple, Salesforce's Marc Benioff, Justin Sullivan, Marc Benioff, Marc Andreessen, Travis Kalanick's, Adam Beswick, he's, grads, Z, Leigh Thompson, Jack Sommers Organizations: Apple Vision, Apple, Companies, Meta, Sony, Getty, Salesforce, Amazon, Oracle, Big Tech, CloudKitchens, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Sequoia Capital, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University Locations: London

☆ 3 California universities are in the top 10 for churning out startup founders who have gotten funding since 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Vishal Persaud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Stanford, UCLA and USC are in the top 10 schools with grads who have gotten private startup funding. Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Southern California rank among some of the top schools to produce startup founders that recently got private funding, according to Crunchbase. Other California-based colleges to make the list of schools include the University of California, Los Angeles, University of California, San Diego, and the California Institute of Technology. The data also details the business schools that some of the startup founders attended. The fact that hundreds of new startup founders have been able to secure funding is a bit surprising considering the current state of the venture capital industry.

Persons: grads, Crunchbase, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Apple, Steve Wozniak, Gordon Moore, Marc Benioff, That's Organizations: Stanford, UCLA, USC, Morning, Stanford University, University of California, University of Southern, Berkeley, Los Angeles , University of California, California Institute of Technology, Stanford Business School, UCLA Anderson School of Management, Haas School of Business, Google, Intel, Salesforce, Tech, Venture Locations: Six California, Berkeley, University of Southern California, California, Los Angeles, San Diego, North America

☆ Sequoia bolsters London office with sixth partner hire as VC firm unveils radical restructure
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Venture capital firm Sequoia has hired a sixth partner for its London office, Insider understands. Venture capital firm Sequoia has bolstered its presence in Europe with the hire of its sixth partner in London, Insider understands. "Since Julien joined us as an associate five years ago, he's become a valued member of our London team," Accel partner Sonali De Rycker said. Sequoia will expand in Europe despite a broader contraction in venture capital funding to European startups. Sequoia has closed 21 deals in Europe in the three years since it opened in London, Crunchbase data shows.

Persons: Julien Bek, Accel's Luciana Lixandru, Sequoia's Lixandru, Bek, Julien, he's, Sonali De Rycker, Slay, Matt Miller, George Robson, Anas Organizations: Sequoia, . Venture, Apple, Accel, London, Investment, Investments, Trade Republic, Global Founders Capital, Revolut Locations: Sequoia, Europe, London, California, China, India, Southeast Asia, Geneva, Switzerland, Lixandru

☆ The $500 million robot pizza startup you never heard of has shut down, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A robot pizza startup that raised almost $500 million has shut down, The Information reported. Zume, the robot pizza delivery startup that raised close to $500 million, has shut down, The Information reported. The company was founded in 2015 and aimed to automate the pizza-making process, but suffered a series of technological difficulties. According to The Information, Zume was "insolvent," and Sherwood Partners, a restructuring firm, had been instructed to sell the company's assets. It made a series of layoffs in 2020, cutting headcount by more than 500 employees — including all of its robotics and food-delivery truck business, Insider previously reported.

Persons: Zume, Alex Garden Organizations: Softbank, AME Cloud Ventures, Sherwood Partners, Bloomberg

☆ This Gen Z founder made an OnlyFans rival that has no nudity and sold it for $65 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

He said it sold for $65 million after sites including TikTok "failed" to help creators make money. The 22-year-old certainly doesn't need to live with his folks: He became a millionaire last year after his company, Fanfix, sold for $65 million, according to Crunchbase. It's a model broadly similar to OnlyFans, but with a major difference: it doesn't allow nudity. When SuperOrdinary bought Fanfix, Insider's Geoff Weiss reported that there were plans for product collaborations with the platform's creators. And they took advantage of the creators, and so a massive gap opened up for platforms like Patreon, platforms like us."

☆ Walmart will offer pet telehealth in latest bid to compete with Amazon
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Gabrielle Fonrouge | In Gabrielle-Fonrouge | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesWalmart is jumping into the burgeoning pet telehealth market. Unlimited access to veterinary telehealth via video or text will be available to Walmart+ subscribers beginning on Tuesday, when Walmart is expected to announce the partnership publicly. Walmart's expansion into pet telehealth signals the largest U.S. retailer is ready to grow its share of the market. Traditional pet-only retailers like Chewy and Petco have already been investing in pet health care to better compete with big-box stores. Others have argued pet telehealth helps bridge the access to care as pet owners contend with a nationwide veterinary shortage and swaths of pet health deserts across rural America.

☆ Lab-grown breast milk startup Biomilq aims to change infant nutrition — if it can release a product
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Natasha Piñon | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Biomilq, the company behind the breakthrough, had been working for nearly a decade to replicate the process of making human milk — but outside of the body. While the crisis has highlighted the importance of a resilient formula supply, human milk experts, milk bank advocates and Biomilq all stress the same message: Breast milk is best. The startup will likely take a "gradual approach" to introducing its science via "an early-life nutrition product in partnership with one of these bigger companies," Strickland explained. Breast milk is woefully understudied — to the point that it's difficult "to even say what human milk is from a nutritional standpoint," Perrin explained. The company is researching which aspects of human milk its system is best suited to produce.

☆ This company could take lab-grown meat mainstream thanks to a green light from the FDA
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Natasha Piñon | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

Upside Foods' pivotal moment also comes at a key moment in the alternative meat industry. The cultivated-meat industry could have a wider consumer base than previously introduced alternative meat products, because unlike plant-based meats, it's "real" meat — minus the slaughtered animals. And, accordingly, some traditional meat companies have expressed interest in the burgeoning cultivated-meat industry, which one day could become a competitor. The cultivated-meat industry will need a similar boost if it's ever going to become a grocery store staple, Swartz said. The FDA's clearance was a voluntary premarket consultation, which means the agency has no further questions about the safety of Upside's products.

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