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May 4 (Reuters) - Two prominent former Google (GOOGL.O) researchers who authored the groundbreaking paper that paved the way for the generative AI boom, have raised $8 million for their new startup Essential AI, four sources told Reuters. Thrive Capital had led the round in Essential AI, founded by Ashish Vaswani and Niki Parmar. Thrive Capital, founded by Joshua Kushner, is also an investor in Microsoft-backed OpenAI. Essential AI aims to build software for enterprises to use large language models, the core software of a new artificial intelligence system that has powered generative AI applications such as ChatGPT, sources said. The raise came after Vaswani and Parmar left Adept AI, a company they also co-founded in 2021 with former Google director David Luan.

☆ VCs are scrambling to invest in AI startups in Y Combinator's latest class: 'There's hysteria for a reason'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

VCs are scrambling to back the AI startups in Y Combinator's latest batch. Several generative AI startups have already secured funding from top firms, sources say. And while valuations are down across the board, YC AI startups are still hot. Startups focused on AI, and generative AI specifically, which saw a substantial jump in the latest batch, were some of the most highly sought after by investors. An AI feeding frenzyVC buzz was common across generative AI startups both in the application and infrastructure layers.

☆ Y Combinator's latest class is a feeding frenzy for VCs looking to back AI startups: 'There's hysteria for a reason'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

☆ 6 startups that have raised $100 million or more in 2023 to change healthcare
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Yeji Jesse Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The healthcare-staffing startup ShiftKey raised $300 million in a round led by its majority investor Lorient Capital. The clinical-trials-tech startup Paradigm raised a $203 million Series A round led by Arch Venture Partners and General Catalyst. The healthcare-staffing startup ShiftMed raised a $200 million round led by Panoramic Ventures. raised a $200 million round led by Panoramic Ventures. Vytalize Health, a startup that helps doctors provide value-based care, raised $100 million from Enhanced Healthcare Partners, Monroe Capital, and North Coast Ventures.

☆ See the 6 startups that have raised the most cash in 2023 to transform healthcare
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Yeji Jesse Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Startups in the industry raised $3.4 billion across 132 deals in the first three months of 2023. The healthcare-staffing startup ShiftKey raised $300 million in a round led by its majority investor Lorient Capital. The clinical-trials-tech startup Paradigm raised a $203 million Series A round led by Arch Venture Partners and General Catalyst. The healthcare-staffing startup ShiftMed raised a $200 million round led by Panoramic Ventures. raised a $200 million round led by Panoramic Ventures.

☆ A.I. needs radical collaboration to stop unintended consequences, says General Catalyst's Hemant Taneja
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | 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 EmailA.I. needs radical collaboration to stop unintended consequences, says General Catalyst's Hemant TanejaHemant Taneja, General Catalyst CEO, joins 'Closing Bell Overtime' to discuss the need for new guard rails on A.I., the call by tech leaders for a 6-month pause on AI development, and the concerns about A.I.

☆ Some VC firms have started moving money back into Silicon Valley Bank, marking the latest turn in the bank's wild week
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Some VC firms have started moving their money back to Silicon Valley Bank. The bridge bank took over the deposits of the Silicon Valley Bank, a financial institution that served nearly half of all US venture-backed companies, per its website. Another group of VC firms also came out in support of Silicon Valley Bank, issuing a joint statement on Tuesday. Taneja also started a drive for VC firms to express their support for Silicon Valley Bank over the weekend. The bank run at Silicon Valley Bank triggered concerns about the financial health of smaller, regional banks in the US, spurring a crisis of confidence in the sector.

☆ Venture capitalists have never been more divided, with accusations flying over who killed their beloved bank SVB. How long will the bad blood last?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

But in the past week, VCs aired their dirty laundry for all the world to see. Still, VCs say they have no choice but to set aside their differences and work together in the future. "Silicon Valley Bank was such a great friend of VCs for so many years that it was just really disappointing to see so many VCs work so quickly to kill it." But in the past week, VCs aired their dirty laundry for all the world to see, criticizing those who they say triggered a $42 billion bank run that doomed SVB. There's been particular animus for Founder's Fund, the venture firm founded by billionaire Peter Thiel that backed Facebook and Airbnb.

☆ Fintech Stripe valued at $50 bln in latest funding round
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 15 (Reuters) - Digital payments processor Stripe said on Wednesday it was valued at $50 billion in its latest funding round, with its valuation nearly halved from its previous fundraising, amid a tough economic environment. The company said its latest round was backed by existing investors including venture capital giants Andreessen Horowitz, Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, General Catalyst and others. New investors such as Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC, Goldman Sachs Asset and Wealth Management and Temasek also participated in the round, which raked in $6.5 billion in proceeds for Stripe. Stripe's capital raise constitutes what is commonly known as a down round, where the latest funding fetches a lower valuation for the company than its previous fundraise. Last year, Swedish buy now, pay later giant Klarna also had to take a down round.

☆ New SVB CEO urges top venture capital clients to move deposits back
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Krystal Hu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 14 (Reuters) - Silicon Valley Bank's new Chief Executive Tim Mayopoulos on Tuesday urged the failed bank's top venture capital clients to move their deposits to its newly created bridge entity, people who attended a virtual meeting with him said. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) appointed the former Fannie Mae CEO to head Silicon Valley Bridge Bank N.A. Mayopoulos told clients deposits at the bank were now among the safest of any U.S. banks or institutions, attendees at the meeting said. Hemant Taneja, CEO of venture capital firm General Catalyst, recommended on Tuesday that its clients who had banked with SVB keep or return at least 50% of their capital to the bank. He has also served as general counsel of Bank of America, and held senior roles at Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse First Boston, and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.

☆ Adept raises $350 mln in Series B funding
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

March 14 (Reuters) - OpenAI rival Adept said on Tuesday it had raised $350 million in a Series B funding round led by General Catalyst and co-led by Spark Capital. Reporting by Ananya Mariam Rajesh in BengaluruOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Venture capitalists weigh 'long-shot plan' to preserve parts of SVB -FT
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

March 13 (Reuters) - Venture capital firms are working on a "long-shot plan" to preserve parts of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in a move to keep servicing their clients in the technology sector, the Financial Times reported on Monday citing people briefed on the effort. A group of several VC firms are in talks since late last week about how to enable SVB to continue lending to, investing in and advising companies and executives in the sector, the FT reported, adding General Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz and Khosla Venture are among the firms involved in talks. Forming a consortium with Apollo Global Management Inc (APO.N) that could bid for portions of SVB is one of the proposals being discussed, the newspaper quoted people as saying. Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru Editing by Chris ReeseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ General Catalyst CEO on SVB: The lesson learned is that we must diversify
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | 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 EmailGeneral Catalyst CEO on SVB: The lesson learned is that we must diversifyHemant Taneja, General Catalyst CEO and managing director, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss how comfortable he feels about the state of affairs regarding SVB, the incentive systems that led to this bank run at SVB, and more.

☆ 9 startup founders who banked with Silicon Valley Bank share where they're moving their money: 'We will not get caught like this again'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Samantha Stokes | Stephanie Palazzolo | Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Silicon Valley Bank's failure has left startup founders scrambling for a new home for their money. Last Friday morning, the startup founder Mang-Git Ng zipped up the interstate before sunrise to a Silicon Valley Bank branch in St. Helena, in California's wine country. Ng's plight is similar to countless other founders following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, who waited with bated breath over the weekend on whether they'd ever get their money back. DiversificationSilicon Valley Bank's collapse could forever change how startups stash their cash, at least two investors told Insider. Silicon Valley Bank had exclusivity clauses with some of its clients, according to a CNBC report, forcing them to use the firm for most or all of their banking services.

☆ 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.

☆ This HR startup just raised $40 million in a round led by General Catalyst and Menlo Ventures. Check out the 12-slide pitch deck Finch used to raise the funds.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The startup's API works to collect employment data from fragmented sources for companies. Check out the 12-slide pitch deck Finch used to raise the Series B round. A startup that aims to streamline HR functions like onboarding and payroll has raised $40 million in fresh funds. San Francisco-based Finch, founded in 2020, provides APIs in a bid to simplify the fragmented world of employment data. The Series B funding round was led by General Catalyst and Menlo Ventures, who led Finch's Series A round in June 2022.

☆ See the 9-slide presentation that got General Catalyst to bet $5 million on a startup helping people with disabilities get accommodations at work
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Managing requests for disability accommodations can be a tricky and time consuming process. Disclo grabbed $5 million in seed funding from General Catalyst in February using this pitch deck. In February, Atlanta-based Disclo raised $5 million in seed funding led by General Catalyst. Disclo provided Insider with the pitch deck it used to land $5 million from General Catalyst and other investors. Here's the deck Disclo used to get $5 million from General Catalyst.

☆ Digital health's funding slump isn't a death sentence. Here's what startups are doing to stand out to investors.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | Blake Dodge | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

It's getting harder for digital-health startups to get investor attention. Fewer digital-health startups are fundraising, and the ones that are will be held to higher standards than before, investors told Insider. This year, a smaller group of digital-health startups is beginning to stand out. "It's been amazing to watch what this business has accomplished," she told Insider. Quantum is already earning enough to fund itself, Zane Burke, the CEO of Quantum, told Insider.

☆ Former VMWare CTO turned VC Steve Herrod has left General Catalyst to join the firm Juxtapose. Here's where he sees opportunity in building enterprise and AI startups.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( April Joyner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Herrod, the former CTO of VMWare, will build enterprise startups in areas like AI and cybersecurity. Herrod is joining the venture studio Juxtapose, where he will focus on creating enterprise software startups, he told Insider exclusively. Though Juxtapose's portfolio includes a range of industries such as fintech, insurance, and healthtech, the firm hasn't had a long reach within enterprise software. He told Insider he sees ample opportunity within segments such as cybersecurity, open-source software, software supply-chain management, and artificial intelligence — several of which are receiving a hefty amount of attention from VCs right now. Now the venture world is full of former tech executives who have made the switch to backing startups.

☆ The CEO of buzzy healthtech startup Vial, which slashed up to 50 jobs last year, asked remaining employees to write positive Glassdoor reviews
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Vial's CEO asked workers to post positive Glassdoor reviews to counter negative ones, Insider found. In a month, 20 positive reviews for Vial flooded the site, raising its rating from one to 3.8 stars. On December 12, Simon Burns, a cofounder and the CEO of the healthtech startup Vial, sent a Slack message in his company's "random-kudos" channel. He included a link to Vial's Glassdoor page and asked other employees to "give her a hand, review us on Glassdoor." In earlier days at the startup, negative employee reviews on Glassdoor cited a toxic culture, a disconnected leadership team, and a lack of industry experience.

☆ Buzzy healthtech startup Vial slashed an entire division weeks before a $67 million raise from General Catalyst. Insiders say they had no idea the layoffs were coming.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Vial let go of its entire site network division, 40 to 50 people, last October, Insider has learned. Just a month after the October cuts, the healthtech startup announced a $67 million funding round. Ahead of the deluge of tech layoffs that have plagued the beginning of 2023, one healthtech startup quietly slashed dozens of jobs late last year, Insider has learned. In October, Vial, which helps biotech companies run faster and more efficient trials, laid off an entire division. As of December 2022, Vial had 125 employees, according to Pitchbook.

☆ 71 top VCs landed on Insider's 2022 list of investors to watch. Here's what they're looking for in startups to back in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | Stephanie Palazzolo | Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Despite a tumultuous market for startup investing, VCs still landed top deals at hot startups. Behind these successes were the smart and savvy rising-star VCs working to transform the industry. Here are some of the rising stars of venture capital who are names to watch in 2023. Insider asked the VCs we named in last year's rising-stars list and the general public to nominate this year's most promising venture investors. For instance, OMERS Ventures' Chrissy Farr made the jump to healthtech investing after working as a journalist covering the venture industry for CNBC.

☆ 4 major trends in health startups in 2022, after an unexpected post-pandemic dropoff in funding
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

VCs poured $13.5 billion into healthtech startups in 2022 — down nearly 50% from 2021. But a global slump and the tech downturn changed all of that, and funding into health startups fell by nearly 50% to $13.5 billion this year. AI-driven drug development and mental health startups also boomed during COVID-19 but have seen a funding dropoff in 2022. Tech that served underrepresented groups was spotlightedFrom menopause to mental health, health conditions that were billed as 'taboo' pre-pandemic have come to the forefront this year. Startups offering personalized treatments for niche issues or demographics, such as menopause app Vira Health, mental health platform MyMynd, and men's health platform Numan, all raised capital this year.

☆ The bulk of AI value will be captured by a lot of cloud vendors, says General Catalyst's Taneja
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | 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 EmailThe bulk of AI value will be captured by a lot of cloud vendors, says General Catalyst's TanejaHemant Taneja, General Catalyst CEO and managing director, joins 'TechCheck' to discuss how much the impact of AI is already priced into publicly-traded companies, where the opportunities are in technology and disruptive use cases.

☆ VCs say hybrid work, generative AI, and niche collaboration tools will be some of the top future-of-work trends that dominate 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Insider talked to VCs about the rising trends they say will revolutionize the way we work and live. Insider spoke with 15 venture capitalists about the trends and verticals they think are most likely to revolutionize the way we work and live today. Therefore, startups that will thrive going forward are those that embrace a mix of in-person and remote work, known as hybrid work, Thacker and other VCs said. An increase in workers caregiving for aging or sick family members is also supported by flexible work, the CRV general partner Kristin Baker Spohn said. "A lot of employees, whether it's the Great Resignation or the pandemic, found themselves changing the way that they work."

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