DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Union Square Ventures slashed the value of 7 of its funds by 26%. Insiders say this will be the 'start of a cascade' of lower valuations for VC funds.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Union Square Ventures is widely considered to be one of the top performing venture firms of all time. USV marked down seven of its funds by nearly 26% this year, a far steeper writedown than other firms. Union Square Ventures — an early backer of Robinhood, Coinbase, and Etsy— is widely considered to be one of the top performing venture firms of all time. Venture firms are required to value their holdings at fair market value, but assessing the value of illiquid assets leaves considerable room for discretion. USV's 2004 fund returned more than $305 million in cash from a $22 million UTIMCO investment, with an IRR of 66%.

Persons: USV, —, VCs, Vincent Harrison, Combinator, Fred Wilson, Wilson Organizations: Square Ventures, Union Square Ventures, UTIMCO, University of Texas, Venture, Bay, Sequoia, Twitter, Zynga Locations: Robinhood, Texas, USV

M12, Microsoft's venture firm, is offloading some of its portfolio on secondary exchanges, sources say. The fund's shares in startups are taking haircuts of between 30% and 70%, three people said. Microsoft's corporate venture capital fund, M12, has been offloading some of its $1 billion portfolio on secondary exchanges, five people familiar with the matter told Insider. One of the people familiar with the sales said M12 sold one large position this month at a 50% discount. A secondary sales boomSecondary sales are becoming more common in the market in general.

Persons: there's, PitchBook, Ashley Stewart, Ben Bergman, bbergman, Darius Rafieyan Organizations: Microsoft, Vertical Aerospace, Google, Investors, Tiger Global

Adonis: AI revenue collection for healthcare providersBen Ling, the founder and a general partner at Bling Capital. Bling CapitalStartup: AdonisRecommended by: Ben Ling, Bling CapitalRelationship: InvestorTotal funding: $22.9 million, according to PitchBook. What it does: Adonis uses AI to automate and create intelligent revenue-collection software between healthcare providers such as doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies. "They are trending to significantly exceed revenue expectations in 2023 and is considered one of the fastest growing healthcare software companies in the United States. As a result, Adonis is overseeing the processing of billions of dollars of claims and impacting revenue outcomes for thousands of the nation's providers," Ling said.

Persons: Adonis, Ben Ling, Ling Organizations: Bling Locations: United States

☆ It's a cruel summer for Airbnb and Vrbo hosts, and meh listings are getting squeezed hard
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-02 | by ( Matt Turner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

In the age of remote work, employers are quiet quitting on employees. Decision-makers at family offices revealed what it's really like managing billions for the ultra wealthy. But first: It's shaping up to be a cruel summer for Airbnb and Vrbo hosts. The Airbnb hosts getting squeezedReal-estate reshapeBlake Callahan / Getty ImagesThe real-estate industry is facing an existential threat. In the age of remote work, employers are doing it, too.

Persons: Matt Turner, Read, Brian Chesky, Charley Gallay, Vrbo, That's, Blake Callahan, Jonathan Ernst, Consuelo Vanderbilt Costin, Bryan Griffin, Insider's Ben Bergman, Arantza Pena Popo, It's, Satya Nadella, Hallam Bullock, Lisa Ryan Organizations: luxe, Reuters Workers aren't, Stanford University, The Vanderbilt, Waltons, Microsoft Locations: Silicon, Airbnb, New York

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

☆ The decision makers at 6 family offices reveal what it's really like behind the scenes at the private wealth management firms managing billions – and why they are so secretive
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Family offices are the private wealth management firms managing the fortunes of wealthy families. But six people agreed to pull back the curtain on family offices to reveal their inner workings. Trust comes before everything elseThe world of family offices is built on relationships and trust before everything else. "Family offices really primarily are about wealth preservation," said Nisa Amoils, managing partner of A100x Ventures who also sits on the board of the Swig Family Office. "As much as it is a family business, it is also the business of family," said Swig.

Persons: Jahnavi Kumari Mewar, JKM, Oliver Swig, I've, Swig, We've, hasn't, Amoils, Consuelo Vanderbilt, SohoMuse, Vanderbilt, Maximilian Winter, Roy, Ben Bergman, bbergman Organizations: North, RBC, Campden, nouveau, Forbes Iconoclast Summit, A100x Ventures, Vanderbilt, Central American, Wimbledon, Harmonix, SOJA Ventures Locations: New York, Columbus, Central America, San Francisco

Earlier this year, Insider highlighted the 32 most important VCs in Los Angeles. Now we are highlighting the next wave of VCs in Los Angeles. To identify the top up-and-coming VCs in LA, Insider surveyed more than 75 local investors. Earlier this year, Insider highlighted the 32 most important VCs in Los Angeles, but venture capital is a young person's game where no one can rest on their laurels. To identify the top up-and-coming VCs in LA, Insider surveyed more than 75 local investors and sought input from its editorial team.

Persons: Marc Andreessen, Peter Thiel, Andreessen Horowitz Organizations: LA Tech, SpaceX, Netflix, Apple, Meta, Telstra Ventures, Marquee Locations: Los Angeles, LA, Southern California, VCs, New York, Santa Monica

☆ Investors shut out of traditional funding rounds are scouring secondary markets to snap up shares in buzzy AI startups like Dataminr, Hugging Face, and Anthropic
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Leena Rao | Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

As the AI craze continues, investors are eager to buy shares of these startups on secondary markets. AI startup shares have been the top in demand sector every month this year, according to EquityZen. It seems that every week there's a new hot AI startup that's raising a big round. ForgeGlobal, a marketplace for secondary transactions of startup shares, is seeing similar excitement from investors in AI startups. Sequoia, General Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz and many others have been aggressively investing in AI startups.

Persons: Phil Haslett, Haslett, Avlok Kohli, Howe Ng, Ng, Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz, Javier Avelos, OpenAI, Anthropic, Avelos Organizations: sixfold, SamBaNova Systems, Microsoft, Google Locations: secondaries, Sequoia, Caplight

☆ From Plaid to Brex to Instacart, here are the 20 unicorns that have plunged the most in value in 2023, according to private secondary data
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

One way to see how private companies are faring is to look at secondary exchanges. The fallen giants are led by former fintech darling Plaid, which has plunged almost 80% in 2023. The fallen giants are led by former fintech darling Plaid, which has plunged almost 80% in value this year. "Suggesting a valuation of any private company based solely on thinly traded secondary market data is misleading clickbait," said a Plaid spokesperson. Below are the 20 companies that have fallen most in value this year, according to Caplight.

Persons: Buyers, Caplight, Javier Avalos, Avalos, Gabe Greenbaum Organizations: Plaid, B Locations: Caplight

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Amazon's AI scramble
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Hallam Bullock | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The OpenAI CEO says he is losing sleep over the fear that "we already have done something really bad by launching ChatGPT." When ChatGPT launched, Amazon managers asked staff for ideas on how to leverage the chatbot at work. "Amazon must be really scared about being late on all of this," an Amazon employee told Insider. Odds and ends:Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, showed off his guitar skills at Apple's WWDC conference this year. During the company's Worldwide Developers Conference, Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, stole the show with a guitar solo.

Persons: Hallam Bullock, Victor Frankenstein, Sam Altman, ChatGPT, Eugene Kim, Insider's Ben Bergman, We've, we've, Thrasio, doesn't, Read, Craig Federighi, Apple’s, Apple's, Dad, Jack Sommers Organizations: Amazon, ChatGPT, Getty, Elon, SpaceX, SpaceX's Starlink, Tech, LA Tech, The Washington Post, Netflix, Apple, Conference Locations: London

☆ LA Tech Week, the summer sequel, is more polished but some of the sizzle is gone
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Unlike most tech conferences where tickets cost thousands, Tech Week is mostly free and open to anyone. If last year's hastily arranged LA Tech Week served as venture firm Andreessen Horowitz's LA coming out party, this year's version – taking place just 10 months later – served as the more polished but lower energy summer sequel. Unlike most tech conferences where tickets cost thousands of dollars, Tech Week, which concludes Sunday, is mostly free and open for anyone to attend or even host their own event. The LA Tech Week kickoff party in Pacific Palisades hosted by Crosscut and 75 & Sunny. Mostly gone unsaid was the dismal state of the tech market, which has worsened considerably since last year's Tech Week; Down rounds and layoffs do not make for great cocktail conversation.

Persons: Andreessen, –, Drew Glover, Glover, Ben Bergman, we'll, Gabe Greenbaum, unsaid, Jeremy Milken, Sophia Amoruso, Nasty, Amoruso Organizations: Tech, LA Tech, Santa, Fiat Ventures, Crosscut, B, Watertower Ventures, Trust Fund, Trust Locations: Santa Monica, marveling, St, LA, Hollywood, Venice, Pacific Palisades, Venice Mexican

Google invested in generative AI startup Runway as part of a $100 million round, sources say. Google and Runway also signed a $75 million cloud computing project, leaked documents show. Google has invested in generative AI startup Runway as part of a $100 million deal, as the Alphabet-owned company leverages its cloud advantage to cozy up to other artificial intelligence players. In addition, Runway has signed a cloud deal with Google worth $75 million over three years, according to internal documents reviewed by Insider. It previously raised $100 million from Amplify Partners, Lux Capital, Coatue, and Felicis Ventures.

Persons: Oscar, Anthropic Organizations: Google, Runway, Lux, Felicis Ventures, Financial Times, Microsoft's, MIT Technology Locations: New York, OpenAI

The Seed 100 is our annual list of the best early-stage investors, based on data analysis. These investors have proven track records and are on track for continued success. Also read our list that focuses exclusively on successful women: Seed 30: The best early-stage women investors of 2023Seed-stage investing is the riskiest — and potentially most rewarding — venture-capital round and the choice of seed investor can make or break a startup. The Seed 100 identifies top investors via data analysis supplied by Tribe Capital*. Scroll down for the full Seed 100 list.

Our annual list of the best women seed investors has been expanded this year. Also read: The Seed 100: The best early-stage investors of 2023The venture-capital industry has historically been a boys' club. That's changing as more women join venture firms, found their own firms, become angel investors, and join investing syndicates. The best seed investors can repeatedly identify winners years before they are successful. Scroll down for the full Seed 30 list.

☆ VC firm Sequoia is pulling out all the stops to dominate AI, insiders say. The firm is using everything from 'speed dating' to star studded summits to woo founders.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

It's just one move of many the VC firm has taken to cement its position in the white-hot AI space. Huang and Grady wrote a public blog post on Sequoia's website inviting AI founders to email them their ideas and pitches directly. But the firm has been louder where it counts, investing in splashy AI startups like Harvey and LangChain. Every member of the firm, from managing partner Roleof Botha on down, has made AI a top priority, with Grady, Huang, and Buhler most prominently involved. Both Huang and Buhler now spend over 90% of their time researching AI companies, versus 50% in previous years, they said.

Andreessen Horowitz is preparing to launch a fund of funds to invest in other startup backers. A16z has already been courting up-and-coming fund managers at events in San Francisco and LA. The venture-capital powerhouse Andreessen Horowitz has in recent months been in discussions to form a fund of funds focused on early-stage investing, according to multiple people familiar with the project. In recent months, the firm has started to court up-and-coming fund managers with events in San Francisco and Los Angeles, according to three sources familiar with the firm's plans. Partners at crossover fund Tiger Global tried a similar strategy in recent years, committing $1 billion to back an array of early-stage venture funds.

☆ Billionaires and CEOs descended on Beverly Hills to talk recession, bank failures, and more. Here's the inside track.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Matt Turner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

On the agenda today:But first: The big takeaways from the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) speaks at the 2023 Milken Institute Global Conference Mike Blake/ReutersThe big-money set jetted into LA last week for the Milken Global Conference. Biggest opportunityCampbell: The pullback in lending by banks is raising the hopes of those in the private credit industry. Read more:'Junk fees'Getty ImagesIt goes by many names: an administrative fee, a transaction fee, even a "regulatory compliance" fee. Akash Nigam, the founder and CEO of Genies, who is spending $2,400 a month on ChatGPT accounts for all his employees.

☆ 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.

☆ Exclusive: Generative AI startup Runway just raised $100 million at a $1.5 billion valuation from a cloud service provider
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Generative AI startup Runway has raised a funding round of at least $100 million, Insider has learned. The deal tripled the startup's valuation from its last round to a whopping $1.5 billion. Investors recently told Insider that they were big fans of buzzy photo and video generative AI startup Runway. Runway has raised a Series D funding round of at least $100 million at a $1.5 billion valuation from a cloud service provider, according to multiple people familiar with the deal. Have a tip on a startup funding round?

☆ Upfront's Mark Suster created one of the most exclusive and glitziest gatherings in tech. But there's a dark side.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Mark Suster is managing partner of Upfront Ventures, a Los Angeles venture firmSuster's fastidiousness has created what many now consider one of the best tech conferences of the year. But Suster's abrasive, take-no-prisoners approach has also alienated some startup founders and investors. These luminaries were among the 1,000-plus attendees of last month's Upfront Summit, a glitzy, invite-only tech conference organized by Upfront Ventures and its managing partner, Mark Suster, in Los Angeles each year. "Mark and the Upfront Summit helped put LA tech and investing on the map," said Jeffrey Katzenberg, the cofounder of DreamWorks and WndrCo. Several years ago, a founder whose startup Suster invested in was in a conference room rehearsing their presentation for the Upfront Summit.

☆ Upfront's Mark Suster has become the star of LA's booming startup scene. Not everyone is a fan.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +29 min

"I have worked with more than 50 VCs and nobody comes close to what it is like to work with Mark Suster," said a founder backed by Suster. "Mark and the Upfront Summit helped put LA tech and investing on the map," said Jeffrey Katzenberg, the cofounder of DreamWorks and WndrCo. Several years ago, a founder whose startup Suster invested in was in a conference room rehearsing their presentation for the Upfront Summit. If you're going to put him on your board, you're letting the fox guard the henhouse. "If you're going to put him on your board, you're letting the fox guard the henhouse."

☆ Exclusive: The University of California has invested billions in venture capital firms since 2000 and it has lost hundreds of millions so far. Here's why.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Ben Bergman | Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Insider obtained UC Investments' returns through a Public Records Act request. Unlike many other financial institutions, VC funds are not required to show their return on investment in startups. UC Investments, which has been managed by Jagdeep Singh Bachher since 2014, declined to comment. Though selling early produced an initial windfall, UC Investments could have ultimately missed out on substantial gains from these VC funds. By comparison, UC Investments earned a 8.3% return for its investment in public markets.

☆ Silicon Valley Bank became the go-to bank for startups with a network of top-tier VCs. Underrepresented founders say that created barriers to access for them.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( April Joyner | Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

But some early-stage founders told Insider they had trouble getting access to SVB's services. SVB's reliance on VC networks made it less accessible to some underrepresented founders, they said. With its focus on venture-backed startups, Silicon Valley Bank provided loans and lines of credit to businesses that often wouldn't qualify for such services at a larger bank. But the earliest-stage companies — those without significant venture funding or a notable VC backer — were still sometimes shut out, founders told Insider. Jean-Charles and Alvarez-Bailey said they didn't believe bias or discrimination was at play in SVB's decisions — they simply didn't meet the bank's VC funding threshold.

☆ Investors in venture funds reveal how they felt VCs handled the Silicon Valley Bank fallout: one was privately frustrated, while another was impressed
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

After last week's bank run on SVB, many limited partners for VC funds had lots of questions. One LP was unhappy with how VCs in the funds they back handled the SVB crisis. Some LPs are wary of the tech industry's heavy reliance on the bank. But after last week's bank run on Silicon Valley Bank, caused in large part by warnings from several prominent VCs to their portfolio companies to get their money out of the bank, LPs have mixed feelings about how it all went down. "There were a lot of fintech companies in particular, and banking companies that banded together to come up with solutions overnight."

"Not only are these big banks not sitting around and waiting for the phone to ring, they are also being proactive." Amid the nation's most troubling turmoil in banking since the global financial crisis nearly 15 years ago, the big banks are flexing their collective muscle. The 2008 financial crisis humbled the banking behemoths; the 2023 crisis of regional banks has now only cemented their power. For an increasingly stretched financial system, the big banks provide a needed stability. The flight to safety that is benefiting the big banks will have a cost, however.

Search resuls for: "Ben Bergman"

25 mentions found