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☆ The cofounder of Iconiq-backed fintech Primer is stepping down as CEO, leaked memo shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Paul Anthony, the cofounder of Iconiq-backed fintech Primer, is stepping down as co-CEO. The company's cofounder Gabriel Le Roux will assume the role of sole CEO. Le Roux confirmed the organizational restructure and said it was a "reflection of the state of the business today." Le Roux insisted that there was no major disagreement to prompt this decision. In a message to staff Anthony said the move was a "real big change on my side."

Persons: Paul Anthony, Gabriel Le Roux, Le Roux, Anthony, We've Organizations: Accel, Iconiq Capital, Apple, PayPal, Braintree Locations: Cocoa

☆ The former CEO of $61 billion cloud giant Snowflake lays out the key traits he looks for when deciding whether to invest in an AI startup
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Written by the tech investor and former Snowflake CEO Bob Muglia, the book came out on June 13. A seasoned tech executive who once worked under Bill Gates at Microsoft, Muglia was the CEO of the fast-growing data-cloud company Snowflake until 2019. In "The Datapreneurs," Muglia set out to highlight some of the startup founders he thought were leading the charge in data analytics. You know, to me, knowledge is really data combined with analysis and insights. We certainly didn't work with that kind of data at Snowflake, at least not when I was there.

Persons: Bob Muglia, Muglia, Steve Hamm, Bill Gates, Rosey, they're, we're, — they're, Bob, It's, George Fraser, Benoit Dageville, Benoit, it'd, Roo Armande Organizations: Snowflake, Former Snowflake, Microsoft, Google Locations: Muglia, RelationalAI, Israel, Snowflake

☆ Startup studio Fractal created 130 companies in 3 years. Founders say the deal structure has led VCs to 'blacklist' them.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Melia Russell | Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

www.fractalsoftware.comOf the dozens of Fractal startups that have raised a seed round of funding, about half had Bienville Capital lead the deal, according to people familiar with the matter. Others say they knew what they were getting into with a venture studio, where a large ownership position is standard. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty ImagesThe biggest draw for some Fractal founders was its plug-and-play approach. The founder of one Fractal startup remembered a time when his company was struggling to grow its customer base. That firm is raising a new $325 million fund to provide additional funding to Fractal companies exclusively, according to a person familiar with the effort.

Persons: Fractal's, he'd, they'd, Andreessen Horowitz, Mike Furlong, Nate Baker, Bienville, —, Brendan Smialowski, Founders, Angela Lee, Furlong, Baker, Ezra Shaw, who'd, who's, It's, Lee, She's, 8VC, Bain, Jeff Greenberg, Omri Bloch, who've, didn't, Stephanie Palazzolo, Melia Russell Organizations: Flatiron Health, Bienville, Insight Partners, Bienville Capital, Getty, Columbia Business School, Alpha, Midwest, Science, Olympic Club, Tiger Global, Craft Ventures, Founders, Vertical Venture Partners, Zag, Crew Capital, Bain Capital, Universal, Foundation, Fifth Locations: Bienville Capital, New York, Bienville, Indio, AFP, Santa Monica , California, Miami, San Francisco, GreenSpark, Columbia, Barti, Aktos, Bessemer, 8VC

☆ A former producer of hit TV show Entourage is launching an altruistic social network and says he doesn't want 'shitty users'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Whether it's misinformation on Facebook, privacy concerns at TikTok, or the perpetual cloud of controversy hovering over Elon Musk's Twitter, social media has an image problem. "Because of the hot mess that is legacy social media, I believe there's a real opportunity for disruption," Weiss said. That's what led him to found Roar Social, a social media startup based on the idea that "humans are hardwired for altruism." So I want the right users and to get the right users, you need to be a little patient." "Nothing is stopping McDonald's from selling filet mignon," he said, "they could do it well, they could do it cheaply, but no one's really gonna gonna go to McDonald's to buy the filet mignon.

Persons: Robert Weiss, Weiss, Melinda Gates, There's, it's, filet mignon, mignon, I'm, Bluesky, Jack Dorsey, he'll Organizations: Elon Musk's Twitter, Roar, MTV, Melinda Gates Foundation, Elon, Twitter Locations: TikTok

☆ Check out the pitch deck Maza used to get Andreessen Horowitz to lead its $8 million seed round to help immigrants access financial services in the US
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Now, Maza has just raised $8 million in seed funding from investors like Andreessen Horowitz. A year and a half later, and Maza has raised $8 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. Customers will have access to Maza's banking services, which include card services, check deposit, and tax services. Down the road, however, the cofounders envision Maza as an "identity" company rather than a banking company, akin to CLEAR in airports, said Arango. Check out the 14-slide pitch deck that Maza used to raise $8 million in seed funding: (Note: certain proprietary information has been redacted.)

Persons: Maza, Andreessen Horowitz, Maza cofounders Luciano Arango, Robbie Figueroa, Siggy, Arango, Anré Williams, Figueroa, Wells Fargo, Seema Amble Organizations: Maza's, LinkedIn, SV Angel, Restive Ventures, Global Founders Capital, American Express National Bank, William Hockey, Plaid Locations: United States, Bilstein, Maza, Wells, Colombia

☆ Norwest Venture Partners just hired ex-Salesforce sales guru David Rudnitsky. Here's why VC firms are now expanding their platform teams.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Norwest has hired ex-Salesforce sales guru David Rudnitsky to be its third operating executive. The hire is part of the firm's recent expansion of its portfolio services team for its founders. Here's why more VC firms may be doubling down on these roles during the market downturn. "We try to be an invited guest in the companies," he said of his work with his first four Norwest portfolio companies. For Norwest, its portfolio services team was launched 13 years ago by partner Katie Belding, who has been at the firm for over two decades.

Persons: Norwest, David Rudnitsky, Rudnitsky, he's, Marc Benioff, I've, It's, Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins, Katie Belding, Belding, Lisa Ames, Renée Cohen Organizations: Norwest Venture Partners, Oracle, Netscape, Salesforce

☆ A debate raging in Washington DC over the definition of who qualifies to be an accredited investor could transform the way startups raise money
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Lawmakers and federal regulators are contemplating changing the definition of "accredited investor." There's a philosophical debate raging in Washington that could transform the multitrillion-dollar capital markets and change the way startups raise money. The origins of the definition of "accredited investor" trace back to the Great Depression and the Securities Act of 1933. And since the Reg D exemption's creation, private markets have become the dominant way for most issuers to access capital markets. According to analysis from the Brookings Institution, in 2020, 13.85% of US households qualified as accredited investors, compared with just 1.8% in 1983.

Persons: Gary Gensler, Elizabeth Holmes, Sam Bankman, Ronald Reagan, Reg D, Maxine Waters, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Micah Hauptman, Hauptman, haven't, Marcia Dawood, Dawood, Tyler Gellasch, Gellasch, Theranos Organizations: Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Apple, Securities, Financial Services, Politico, Consumer Federation of America, Yale Endowments, Brookings Institution, Angel Capital Association, ACA, Healthy Markets Association Locations: Washington, of Arkansas, California

☆ Check out this $110 million tech campus being built in Lithuania — the largest in Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The development, from Lithuanian infrastructure firm Tech Zity, is inspired by British renovation projects like the Battersea Power Station and Tate Modern art gallery. Tech ZityLithuania is building a huge tech campus — Europe's largest — in the capital of Vilnius, as it looks to become the new tech capital of the Baltics. Lithuania's growing tech sceneLithuania's tech ecosystem has grown dramatically over the past decade, Darius Zakaitis, Tech Zity's founder, told CNBC. Tech Zity manages three tech campuses in Vilnius, including Tech Park, Tech Loft, and Tech Spa, which are home to companies like Google, Bored Panda and Kilo Health. Currently occupying 20,000 square meters, Tech Zity plans to reach 80,000 square meters over time, considering new campuses, existing locations, and other projects.

Persons: Darius Zakaitis, Zakaitis, Tech Zity, Daniel Ek, Tom, Kevin, Vineted Organizations: Tech, Battersea Power, Tate, Tech Zity, New, Vilnius, Tech Zity's, CNBC, Nord, Google, Kilo Health, Tech Zity U.S, Netflix, Spotify, Nord Security, Summit, Accel Locations: Lithuanian, Battersea, Tech Zity Lithuania, Vilnius, Baltics, Lithuania, Paris, Europe, Baltic, Nord, France, Germany, Lisbon, Portugal, EQT, Russia

☆ Exclusive: How this under-the-radar VC landed a $27 million third fund and bets in some of the buzziest startups like Jasper and Motherduck
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Essence VC has raised its third fund of $27 million from LPs like Cendana and Sapphire Ventures. The fund has bet on buzzy startups like generative AI darling Jasper and a16z-backed Motherduck. And now, his firm Essence VC has just raised its $27 million third fund. The latest fund, backed by VC firms and funds of funds including Cendana Capital, Vintage Investment Partners, Sapphire Ventures, Level Ventures, and Crossover, follows a $7 million and $1 million fund. However, the "first-mover advantage" for startups also holds true in the land of VC, Chen says.

Persons: Jasper, Tim Chen, you've, Liz O'Sullivan, Vera, Chen, Scott Shi, —, Chi Zhang, Tim, Zhang, funder Chen, Christos Kozyrakis, Michael Huang, They're, it's, Ben Van Roo, Van Roo, Chen wasn't Organizations: Sapphire Ventures, Cendana, Vintage Investment Partners, Level Ventures, Founders, Stanford, Cloudera, Google Locations: a16z

☆ Scoop: The founders of PopSugar raise $33 million for their second VC fund, and launch a bespoke investment bank to advise startups on M&A
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Brian and Lisa Sugar, the married founders of PopSugar, have raised a second venture capital fund. The $33 million fund will invest in consumer brands and software powering the future of retail. The eponymous firm, Sugar Capital, began to raise the sophomore fund a year ago and closed in May, Brian Sugar told Insider. For her part, Lisa stepped back from managing PopSugar in 2021 and joined Sugar Capital as a partner in 2022. Sugar Capital set out to raise $75 million for its second fund and reduced the target size last summer, Sugar said.

Persons: Brian, Lisa Sugar, Brian Sugar, MrBeast's Feastables, Will Hawthorne, Krista Moatz, PopSugar, Hawthorne, Sugar, Sam Altman, Jason Calacanis, Everlane, Ben Lerer's, Lisa, Brian Ach Organizations: PopSugar, Sugar Capital, Avid Capital Advisors, Avid, Sugar, JPMorgan, Advisors, Sequoia Capital, Nine Media, Bain Capital, Pritzker Group Venture, Consumer Locations: Olive

☆ Check out the 15-slide pitch deck former Bose engineers and the founders of STAT Health used to raise $5 million for a tiny in-ear wearable to prevent fainting
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Leena Rao | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

STAT Health sells an in-ear wearable that patients can use 24/7 to track blood flow. So when Lee's elderly father began having repeated fainting sessions, Lee turned to in-ear technology to help solve the problem. His brainchild is STAT Health, an 24/7 in-ear wearable that measures blood flow to the head to better understand symptoms such as dizziness, brain fog, headaches, fainting, and fatigue that occur while standing. STAT Health's in-ear wearable. The wearable was clinically tested at Johns Hopkins University and was shown to predict fainting in users minutes before it happens.

Persons: Long, Daniel Lee, Lee, Paul Jin Organizations: Health, J2 Ventures, BonAngels Venture Partners, STAT Health, Johns Hopkins University Locations: Bose

So they helped to create a cohousing development for LGBTQ+ seniors and allies, making it easier to offer support to one another. "These things are going to happen, but we also find that we are really good at taking care of each other." How to avoid 'the closet' while ensuring good careOlder adults in the LGBTQ+ community are twice as likely to be single and four times less likely to have children as their non-LGBTQ+ peers, according to SAGE, a national advocacy organization for LGBTQ+ elders. The Village Hearth is a 55-plus cohousing community for LGBTQ+ adults, friends and allies located in Durham, North Carolina. When you're in the hospital or a care facility, "if you're heterosexual, the spouse automatically gets visiting rights," Lee said.

Persons: Margaret Roesch, Pat McAulay, Roesch, McAulay, Stephanie Lee, Kyle Young, Lee, That's, they're, Young, Allison O'Shea, O'Shea Organizations: Finance, Nonprofit, SAGE, East Rock Financial, CNBC Experts, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, Morgan Stanley Wealth, Local Locations: Durham , North Carolina, Florida, San Francisco, New York, Durham, Tennessee

☆ How I raised $2 million for my startup without knowing any venture capitalists
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Jackson Cunningham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Cunningham says raising funds will almost always take more time and labor than you expect, so stay persistent, patient and proactive. One of the greatest challenges of entrepreneurship is raising money for your startup, especially if you don't have an established network of venture capitalists (VCs) to rely on. Dedication and follow-ups: Raising funds requires significant effort and labor. I've said it once already, and I'll say it again: Raising funds will almost always take more time and labor than you expect. Allow ample time for the fundraising process, leverage your founder network, create a compelling pitch deck, and craft personalized outreach messages.

Persons: Jackson Cunningham, Cunningham, VCs, Dave — we're, I've Organizations: DTC, Founders, Future Equity Locations: VCs

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.

☆ Fintech Zamp, which helps companies navigate sales tax compliance, used this 12-page deck to raise a $4 million seed round
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Paige Hagy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Zamp is a startup that helps online sellers with sales tax compliance. Sales tax compliance laws are complex and constantly changing. Zamp is aimed at helping online sellers of all sizes manage their sales tax compliance. Additionally, sales tax compliance is handled on the state, county, city, and district levels, rather than the federal level. Zamp handles every aspect of sales tax compliance for the customer, from reporting and filing to handling notices from the state.

☆ Here's the 12-page pitch deck a startup helping online sellers navigate the complicated world of sales tax compliance used to raise a $4 million seed round
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Paige Hagy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

☆ After prison, getting banking services is hard. This startup wants to change that.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Paige Hagy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

FRSH is a banking solution for the formerly incarcerated community. "We are justice-impacted and we know this is the best solution," Sam told Insider. FRSH offers banking products and services to help returning citizens — those who have been released from jails and prisons, per the US Department of Justice — establish financial stability. Sam, Daniel Feldman, and Chris Heckler, all of whom were formerly incarcerated, founded the fintech. The startup also trains caseworkers and case managers to teach financial-education courses and offer FRSH as a banking solution for returning citizens.

☆ 7. Anduril Industries
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Cnbc.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Anduril Industries operates in an increasingly complex security environment, where science and technology innovation are needed for the U.S. military to keep an edge. Throughout 2022, defense technology specialist Anduril Industries supplied drones, artificial intelligence software and training to help the Ukrainian Armed Forces conduct surveillance and reconnaissance missions. With a recent round of venture financing directed toward cutting-edge autonomous militaristic products, Anduril Industries stands to help fill this gap and scale it up. Building on that acquisition, last year Anduril Industries partnered with the U.S. Special Operations Command on a 10-year, $967 million contract to provide systems for shooting down drones. Anduril also bought startup Dive Technologies, a maker of underwater vehicles, to expand its suite of autonomous vehicles.

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.

☆ Silicon Valley Founders and VCs Are Making Sobriety Popular
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Sellers is among a growing contingent in the tech community that's going alcohol-free. From founders to investors, members of the startup community are eschewing booze in the name of staying sharp — and healthy. "About six months ago, I stopped drinking alcohol. That's really hard because in this industry, you have to be high energy. That's really hard because in this industry, you have to be high energy.

☆ See the pitch deck these 2 best friends made on Canva to raise $675,000 for their tequila brand
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Lauren Crosmedlicott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

They registered their tequila brand, Pimantae, while working full-time jobs in 2021. They decided to pursue angel investors and used a pitch deck they made on Canva. They considered crowdfunding and venture capital as financing options, but settled on approaching angel investors. With their first investor locked in, other investors started expressing interest. They closed their pre-seed round in September 2022 having raised £545,000, or around $675,000, between 13 angel investors and Distill Ventures — far exceeding their original £250,000 goal.

☆ Check out the pitch deck that Ukraine startup Fuelfinance, which aims to help finance teams replace Excel with better tools, used to raise $1 million from a war zone
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

In January, it raised $1 million in seed funding from angels at Google, Meta, and Salesforce. That's the situation Alyona Mysko found herself in as the chief executive and cofounder of Fuelfinance, a tiny accounting startup based in Ukraine. In January, Fuelfinance raised $1 million in a seed round of funding from angel investors at companies including Google, Meta, Salesforce, and Uber. Fuelfinance is taking on giants like Microsoft Excel and Pilot with its cloud-based approach to financial planning. Here's the pitch deck that Fuelfinance used to convince employees of Google, Meta, and Salesforce to invest $1 million.

☆ Former Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer launches climate investment firm: 'We need business' to solve climate change
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Former Facebook chief technical officer Mike Schroepfer is launching a climate venture capital investment firm, Gigascale Capital, on Tuesday. He told CNBC he is personally motivated to fight climate change and believes this is an inflection point in the industry. As Schroepfer started speaking with the community of climate change innovators and entrepreneurs, he was being asked how to hire, how to scale companies and how to solve technical problems. In addition to his philanthropic climate work, Schroepfer invested in more than a dozen climate startups as an angel investor, he said. That combination of growing demand, or market preparedness, and a bubbling pool of innovation, or technological preparedness, activated Schroepfer's "spidey sense," he said.

☆ He's played chess with Peter Thiel, sparred with Elon Musk and once, supposedly, stopped a plane crash: Inside Sam Altman's world, where truth is stranger than fiction
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Melia Russell | Julia Black | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +41 min

But, "you do at some point need to start having contact with reality," he told Insider. The plan was still only a rough sketch, Blania told Insider, but that didn't seem to matter to his host. "He always wanted to understand everything at a very deep level," Thrun told Insider in an email. (When asked about guns, Altman told Insider he'd been "happy to have one both times my home was broken into while I was there.") When asked about this, Altman told Insider in an email: "i can guess what that's about; these stories grow crazily inflated over the years of getting re-told!

☆ Sam Altman is building his utopia, whether you want it or not
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Melia Russell | Julia Black | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +41 min

Altman told Insider, "We debate our approach frequently and carefully." "I don't think anyone can lose your dad young and wish he didn't have more time with him," Altman told Insider. Altman told Insider that his thinking had evolved since those posts. (When asked about guns, Altman told Insider he'd been "happy to have one both times my home was broken into while I was there.") When asked about this, Altman told Insider in an email: "i can guess what that's about; these stories grow crazily inflated over the years of getting re-told!

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