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☆ 11 podcasts that busy venture capitalists and founders say they trust right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Robin Madell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Investors at JetBlue Ventures, Mighty Capital, and other VC firms shared their favorite podcasts. Another recommendation is "Origins" by partners at the biotech VC firm Notation Capital. Here are 11 great options, recommended by VCs, founders, CEOs, and other industry insiders. "The main thing about the VC world is building relationships, and Harry is an example of a great networker," Gershfeld said. "BTC is the single-most important asset in the world, and that podcast gets to the heart of why that is."

☆ IPO market remains frozen, but could rebound later this year, tech analyst says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Riley De León | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

In total, IPO deal proceeds plummeted 94% in 2022 — from $155.8 billion to $8.6 billion — according to Ernst & Young's IPO report published in mid-December. As of the report's publication date, the fourth quarter was on pace to be the weakest of the year. The collapse of the IPO market has caused the pipeline of anticipated public listings to swell. MKM's Rohit Kulkarni is among the few optimists who think the IPO market could rebound later this year, spurred in part by the volume of private companies waiting in the wings to go public when capital becomes more accessible. According to Carta, 22% of companies, both private and public, reduced their valuations in Q3, nearly tripling year-over-year.

Insider asked more than 40 top fintech investors to nominate the most promising fintechs. Here are the 61 most promising fintechs. Insider surveyed 43 investors — including those from Bain Capital Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and QED Investors — about the most promising fintechs to watch. Global fintech funding dropped to $20.4 billion in the second quarter, falling 46% from last year, according to data from CB Insights. Check out the 61 fintechs identified as most promising by top investors.

☆ The year that brought high-flying Silicon Valley back down to earth
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

The tech industry, already dominant, only seemed destined to grow even bigger at the start of this year. The spread of the Omicron variant suggested a continued pandemic-fueled demand for digital goods and services, which had buoyed many tech companies. The result was a bloodbath unlike anything the tech industry has seen in the past decade. For years, Silicon Valley has held up its founders as visionaries who can see far into the future. “I do not think venture is cratering, or the tech industry is cratering as an industry.”But for now, at least, there appears to be no end in sight to the pain for Silicon Valley and those who work in it.

☆ 11 healthtech founders who raised funding in 2022 reveal the crucial things they did to create successful pitch decks
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A VC downturn is upon us, but healthtech founders will still have opportunities to raise capital. Healthcare founders at Salvo Health, Parallel Learning, and other startups raised money in 2022. 11 healthtech founders told Insider their best pieces of pitch-deck advice. "We need to invest in consumer-first experiences within the healthcare system that will ultimately lead to better outcomes." Insider spoke with 11 healthcare founders who collectively raised more than $146 million from investors in 2022.

☆ Amazon has only gotten started with its ambitions to be a serious player in healthcare. Here are 3 acquisitions it could make next year.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The next month, it abruptly announced it would shut down Amazon Care, its app-based primary-care service for employers, three years after launch. In November, Amazon launched Amazon Clinic, a virtual service where patients can pay Amazon directly to get treatment for common conditions like allergies and acne. Natalie Schibell, a vice president and research director at Forrester, said that was a sign Amazon had learned from its mistakes at Amazon Care. When Amazon shuttered Amazon Care, it put those mental-health ambitions on hold. Lennox-Miller said Amazon could buy health data startups the company had already invested in, like the health-equity-focused Harmony Health or the value-based-care data company Clinify Health.

☆ Inside 4 of the biggest VC-backed startups that went public and crashed, from Casper Sleep to Blue Apron
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Bethany Biron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Bird became the latest VC-backed startup showing signs of distress, after hinting at a potential bankruptcy this week. The company is among several former success stories struggling against competition and a tough economy. Here are four of the biggest VC-backed startup downfalls of recent years. Meanwhile, VC-backed startup darlings of recent years — many of which held the vaunted $1 billion valuation unicorn status — are suddenly unable to keep their heads above water. Here's a look at four of the biggest VC-supported startups that went public and crashed in recent years.

☆ 11 VCs working in the payments space investing in the next wave of fintech darlings
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Emilia David | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Payments investments reached $3.9 billion in Q3 2022, a well-performing area despite VC pullback. VCs plan to continue to focus on the payments space as it gets more embedded in other industries. Here are 11 of the top investors in the space searching for the next fintech darling. Insider compiled a list of the top VCs investing in the space based on submissions from VC firms and data on their investing histories. Here are the 11 VCs who are bullish around payments and why they think it's going to gain traction soon, listed alphabetically:

☆ Factbox: Aircraft lessors sue insurers for $8 billion over trapped Russian planes
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

LONDON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Aircraft leasing firms are suing dozens of insurers for around $8 billion in a string of lawsuits over the loss of hundreds of aircraft stuck in Russia since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Lessors argue the aircraft are covered by policies against war or theft, but insurers point out the planes are undamaged and might yet be returned. Here is a list of claims filed against insurers in London, Dublin and the United States, with the most recent filing listed first. SMBC AVIATION CAPITAL VS LLOYD'S OF LONDONSMBC filed a claim against Lloyd's of London (SOLYD.UL) in the Irish High Court on Nov 28. BOC AVIATION VS 16 INSURERSBOC Aviation has begun legal action against 16 insurers, according to an Irish High Court filing on Nov 3.

☆ 29 foodtech power players of 2022 revolutionizing how restaurants operate and deliver amid a looming recession
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Rising labor and commodity costs put a squeeze on restaurants in 2022. Insider's 2022 foodtech power players are helping restaurants elevate their digital business. But sunny skies turned stormy in 2022 as the restaurant industry faced headwinds tied to market volatility, a labor shortage, and record inflation. Ghost kitchens, virtual brands, and online-ordering startups are now morphing to survive and stay relevant post-lockdown. Insider's 2022 list spotlights foodtech leaders who are helping restaurants take their digital business to the next level as they face a looming recession.

☆ Schneider Electric-Backed Venture Firm to Launch $520 Million Fund
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Angus Loten | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

To date, SE Ventures has 30 active investments, including climate and industrial tech ventures, a pace it expects to accelerate with the new fund, he said. About 70% have struck a commercial partnership with Schneider Electric, the company said. SE Ventures first invested in AutoGrid in the company’s Series D fundraising round in 2019. Mr. Hodson said through SE Ventures, Schneider Electric has a good record of targeting investments to areas where it wants to expand. “There’s definitely a market reality where there is a large degree of uncertainty,” Mr. Chaturvedy said.

☆ Inside 4 of the biggest VC-basked startups that went public and crashed, from Casper Sleep to Blue Apron
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Bethany Biron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

☆ 2 top investors identify fintech trends flying under the radar
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Asia Martin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Payments and lending are receiving a lot of hype from venture capitalists, but two investors say that needs to change. That's lagging well behind 2021, which saw more than $46 billion raised by US fintechs at this point last year. Kemp and Russ told Insider the top areas they feel have flown under the radar within fintech. B2B PaymentsThe direct-to-consumer space has become digitized and somewhat commoditized, Kemp told Insider. Financial education, equity and accessVenture capital is overlooking a lot of companies doing interesting things around financial education, financial equity, and giving underserved populations access to much-needed financial tools, Russ told Insider.

☆ Tiger Global-backed Mesh Payments raised $60 million in a bid to help companies make better decisions around travel, HR, and other spending
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Emilia David | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Mesh Payments raised $60 million from Alpha Wave, Tiger Global, TLV Partners, and Entreé Capital. Mesh Payments, one of the few companies Tiger Global has funded this year, has big plans for the next year. The fintech dealing with corporate payments and issuing corporate virtual cards raised $60 million in September from Tiger Global and other investors. Mesh Payments' founder and CEO, Oded Zehavi, said the company was focusing on refining its products and developing new ones. Alpha Wave led its $60 million Series C funding round in September, along with Tiger Global, TLV Partners, Entreé Capital, and Meron Capital.

☆ Shopify's startup investments this year include millions into companies that focus on NFTs, Web3 apps, customer-engagement, and financial services
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

In its press release announcing the new funding, Wati said the investment was Shopify's first in a startup operating in Southeast Asia. The goal is to make Thirdweb's tools available to Shopify merchants who want to bring Web3 products and experiences to their online stores. Shopify recently participated in Gorgias' $30 million Series C round, which valued the startup at $710 million. According to the company, merchants using its technology report a 96% increase in sales on average. Flexport announced it had received a strategic investment from Shopify as part of its $935 million Series E on February 7.

☆ A Walmart-backed fintech has been making changes to an online bank it acquired. Long-standing customers are getting fed up.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Carter Johnson | Ben Tobin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

But once the Walmart-backed fintech venture Hazel acquired One and adopted its moniker in January, some of the features that drew Gastley to the bank disappeared. The page has become, in some cases, the first place customers turn to for information about product changes. (Like most neobanks, One has partnered with a sponsor bank, the Washington-based Coastal Community Bank, to provide financial services.) But then One customers received an email from the bank on May 12: It would be closing current credit lines, effective immediately. That's not the only change to Pockets for which Joseph, who has dozens of the virtual bank accounts, didn't receive a notification about, he said.

Meanwhile, the number of "mega-deals" — or funding rounds of more than $100 million — dropped to its lowest level since 2018, CB Insights also reported. According to CB Insights, the volume of payments-related dealmaking reached nearly $4 billion, or slightly less than a third of all fintech funding. And while that's not a record-breaking amount, payments are accounting for a larger amount of the fintech funding pie. One year ago, when third-quarter fintech funding topped $36 billion in the midst of a bull market, payments accounted for roughly 20% of overall funding volume. But even amid a relative pullback in broader fintech funding, payments represent a safe, evergreen thesis because it is a largely complicated and analog space.

☆ IPO market has unraveled this year
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

But there’s another beast, albeit a mythical one, that has been pretty much absent from the stock market all year: Unicorns. According to data from IPO research firm Renaissance Capital, that was the slowest October for the IPO market since 2011. Many hope to do so instead in 2023 if the broader market improves. With that in mind, other unicorns could go public in 2023 if the IPO window opens up again. Crypto king FTX, sports merchandise leader Fanatics, Fortnite owner Epic Games and mobile bank app Chime are among the top 2023 IPO candidates, according to Wall Street analysts.

☆ Fintechs have been getting crushed this year, but the sector's biggest investors say payments are a key area to watch in 2023. Here's what they are most excited about.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Emilia David | Carter Johnson | Bianca Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

☆ Goldman Sachs predicts how gold will perform in different economic scenarios
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Weizhen Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

However, Goldman said there remains uncertainty ahead for gold prices. "In our view, there remains a lot of uncertainty around the future path of US inflation, growth, rates and the central bank (CB)'s reaction functions." As such, the investment bank has therefore run four economic scenarios, and predicted where gold prices could end up in each case. A recession with substantial rate cuts (30% probability): Gold prices spike to $2,250 per ounce – around 35% rally from Tuesday's price. Higher inflation, more hikes (20% probability): Gold prices could fall to $1,500 per ounce – around 9% drop from Tuesday's price.

☆ 15 venture capitalists that early-stage sports tech, health, and wellness founders should know if they're looking to raise capital
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Matthew Kish | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +17 min

Other recent investments include Bumble, Goop, Spring Health, Chief, Found, Daily Harvest, and Blueland. Recent investments include the sneaker-trading platform Tradeblock, which touts itself as an alternative to StockX and Goat. Recent investments include AnyDistance, Balanced, and Juna. Her recent investments include Calibrate, DUOS, Dutch, and Buffalo Market, a food distributor focused on plant-based and organic foods. Recent investments include pickleball products company Revolin, live-sports artificial-reality company Quintar, recovery products company Alleviate, and community cycling app Preem.

☆ Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman says there's about to be a "washout" of fintech valuations and a wave of consolidation. Here's how the bank is thinking about potential deals.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Hayley Cuccinello | Bianca Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman predicted a "wash out" for fintech firms in an earnings call. The market is volatile, but Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman sees it as a return to normalcy. Companies trading at 50 times revenue, what's gone on with Bitcoin trading at $60,000, and what's gone on with GameStop and other companies," Gorman said in the third-quarter earnings call on October 14. Consolidation in the fintech space is nothing new to Morgan Stanley, he added. Fintech founders, however, have been reluctant to face their new reality, according to a slew of VCs.

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Data from Bloomberg Economics shows that El Salvador tops its ranking of emerging market countries that are vulnerable to a debt default. Another survey by the institute found that 76 out of 100 small and medium-size enterprises in El Salvador do not accept bitcoin payments. But in 2022, recent data shows that only 1.6% of remittances were sent to El Salvador via digital wallets. Meanwhile, its other national currency, bitcoin, is revered for the fact that it, too, is impossible to mint out of thin air. "Bitcoin doesn't solve any of El Salvador's important economic problems," he added.

☆ Gen Z banking app Step, backed by the likes of Charli D'Amelio and Steph Curry, just raised $300 million in debt funding and launched crypto investing as it surpasses 3.5 million accounts
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Emmalyse Brownstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Step, a banking app designed for teens, said Tuesday it raised $300 million in debt. Step has now raised $500 million in equity and debt from a bevy of venture and celebrity backers. On Tuesday, financial-technology startup Step announced $300 million in debt funding led by venture-debt specialist TriplePoint Capital, with participation from Step's banking partner, Evolve Bank & Trust. The startup has previously raised $200 million in equity funding since launching in 2018. "In a matter of just the last couple of years, there's been a lot of volatility" in crypto, MacDonald said.

☆ The Year of the Voice Message: A Modern Guide to Phone Etiquette
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Magdalene J. Taylor | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

NATHAN HEINRICH, 41 years old, feels totally disconnected from his younger sister. In fact, the writer and designer from West Nyack, N.Y, says they’re in touch plenty. The problem: This year, she suddenly started communicating exclusively through recorded voice messages, colloquially called voice notes or voice memos, a feature that’s been available on Apple ’s iMessage since June 2014. His sister, Hilary Heinrich, a busy 32-year-old teacher in San Luis Obispo, Calif., says the technology nicely combines aspects of both phone calls and texts. Mr. Heinrich, however, finds that having to respond to her voice notes in kind makes him feel like a trucker on a CB radio.

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