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☆ Chris Sacca's Lowercarbon Capital just invested $20 million in Woodoo, a startup making wooden alternatives to steel, cement, and glass, after seeing this pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Woodoo is a biotech startup creating alternatives to leather, glass, cement, and steel using wood. We got a peek inside the 8-slide pitch deck it used to raise from Chris Sacca's Lowercarbon Capital. Now his company, a biotech converting wood into alternatives for emissions-intensive materials such as concrete and steel, has just secured $31 million. Boitouzet is set on becoming the go-to option for building materials, having already seen traction in the luxury goods market. Woodoo's materials are currently more expensive than conventional but costs will come down when the company reaches scale, Boitouzet said.

☆ 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."

☆ Meet the 31-year old VC and self-made millionaire who faced Hong Kong loan sharks and his own fear of death
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

31-year old Maurice Ng came to the US with nothing after his family fled loan sharks in Hong Kong. It was a simple spreadsheet that inspired Maurice Ng at 29 to quit his job to become a venture capitalist. He deducted a little over 2,000 days for commuting time, and allowed himself 255 "regular sick days" and 10 "serious sick days." Assuming 3 meals a day, 365 days a year, 1 hour per meal, he deducted 5,817 days for eating. Despite the current turmoil in the tech industry and venture capital, Maurice seems to be inoculated against self doubt.

A bank run took down Silicon Valley Bank on March 10, as depositors withdrew $42 billion in a single day. And that’s why we’ve gone to community banks and regional banks such as SVB,” Bradley said. SVB’s collapse could spark future change, entrepreneur saysBecause of these disparities, entrepreneurs also seek funding from venture capitalists. In the early 2010s, Hamilton intended to start her own tech company — but as she searched for investors, she saw that White men control nearly all venture capital dollars. That experience led her to establish Backstage Capital, a venture capital fund that invests in new companies led by underrepresented founders.

☆ Hot AI startup ElevenLabs, founded by ex-Google and Palantir staff, is set to raise $18 million at a $100 million valuation. Check out the 14-slide pitch deck it used for its $2 million pre-seed.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

London-based ElevenLabs is set to raise $18 million after securing a $2 million round in January. ElevenLabs, a hot artificial intelligence startup, is set to raise $18 million at a $100 million valuation, months after announcing its $2 million pre-seed round in January. ElevenLabs synthesizes speech "that takes context into account and conveys it accordingly," Staniszewski told Insider in January after the firm announced its pre-seed round. The pre-seed round was led by Czech-based early-stage venture capital firm Credo Ventures, which has previously backed UiPath and Apiary. Check out the 14-slide deck ElevenLabs used to raise its pre-seed funding.

☆ This startup helps early-stage forestry projects get funded. Check out the 14-slide pitch deck carbon credit marketplace Xilva used to raise $2 million.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Zurich-based Xilva helps early-stage forestry projects access the capital they need to scale up. The startup has developed its own propriety vetting process to help build trust in the carbon market. A startup helping forestry projects access capital has just raised 1.8 million euros in fresh funds. The voluntary carbon market, where carbon credits are bought and sold, has been plagued by quality issues. Check out the 14-slide pitch deck Xilva used to raise the funds below:

☆ Vector database Chroma scored $18 million in seed funding at a $75 million valuation. Here's why its technology is key to helping generative AI startups.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Chroma helps manage vector embeddings, or numerical representations of data AI models can process. The startup raised $18 million in seed funding at a $75 million valuation led by Quiet Capital. The company recently closed a $18 million seed round led by Quiet Capital at a $75 million valuation. Originally, Chroma's tech aimed to serve machine learning engineers who were training and deploying AI models. Because this limits the model's context window, this approach tends to prevent hallucinations, or confident but incorrect responses from AI, Troynikov told Insider.

☆ Cash App Founder Bob Lee Fatally Stabbed in San Francisco
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Alyssa Lukpat | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Bob Lee built a career as a Silicon Valley executive and angel investor, according to his LinkedIn page. Bob Lee , the founder of money-transfer company Cash App and the chief product officer at cryptocurrency company MobileCoin Inc., was fatally stabbed in San Francisco on Tuesday. MobileCoin founder Joshua Goldbard confirmed Mr. Lee’s death in an email to The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Lee, who had been MobileCoin’s chief product officer since 2021, had previously worked on some of Silicon Valley’s most well-known products.

☆ Here's an exclusive look at the pitch deck that Y Combinator alum Careerist, a tech career training and job placement startup, used to raise $8 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Careerist is an edtech startup that helps train and recruit workers for open tech jobs. Now, the team has grown to over 100 employees and just raised $8 million in venture capital funding. Careerist also offers tech recruiting help, automating the job application process to help users find viable leads for new roles. The accelerator helped the Careerist team get in touch with investors for the company's seed round and also many employer partners, and was very helpful in figuring out how best to grow the business, Tysbaev said. Check out the 12-slide pitch deck Careerist used to raise $8 million:

Cramer has dealt with a huge number of pitch decks in her time as an entrepreneur and VC. She has shared on LinkedIn her top tips for creating a successful pitch deck. "If you want to build a brand, your pitch deck needs to highlight that brand. If you want to build a tool, you need a pitch deck that shows mock-ups of the product," Cramer wrote. It allows senders much more control over who reads their pitch deck — and who can forward it.

☆ Here's an exclusive look at the 12-slide pitch deck generative AI startup Sutro used to score $2.2 million in funding
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Sutro helps non-technical users build apps, including their websites, mobile versions, and backends. Here's an exclusive look at the pitch deck it used to raise $2.2 million in seed funding from Eniac. Sutro also offers low-code tools that help its non-technical users inspect code for issues. Sutro is currently in beta and is accessible through a waitlist, mainly serving non-technical startup founders and small businesses so far. Here's an exclusive look at the 12-slide pitch deck Sutro used to raise $2.2 million in seed funding from Eniac Ventures and angel investors:

☆ The SVB fallout has been a wake up call for startup founders. Many are rethinking their VC relationships: 'There's certain people I wouldn't want to take money from now.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Startup founders are wary of some VCs after their actions during the SVB crisis. Some founders were disheartened by investor advice on what to do with their money in SVB. "There's certain people I wouldn't want to take money from now," Sami Khan, cofounder and CEO of mobile games company Atlas Reality told Insider. He adds that it's difficult to blame people, both investors and founders, for the decisions they make in fast-moving situations. Without access to the dependable venture debt SVB offered, more founders may be forced to turn to dilutive venture capital for financing instead.

☆ Silicon Valley Bank seizure leaves a massive hole — and a large opportunity — in the world of climate finance
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

"Nobody understands startups as well as Silicon Valley Bank and how to lend to them," says Zachary Bogue, a long-time tech investor and cofounder of DCVC. "Silicon Valley Bank understood that even though we may have only had $10,000 or so in deposits at the time, we had a lot of potential," Clerico told CNBC. "That early investment in our relationship paid off," Clerico told CNBC. In this, the bank "was a climate bank pioneer," said Steph Speirs, co-founder and CEO of Solstice Power Technologies, which has built a technology to help connect people to community solar projects. But it will take some time, and delays can be costly in the fight against climate change," Bhatraju told CNBC.

In the short-term, regulators have found a solution for Silicon Valley Bank depositors and, we hope, calmed the fears of a wider run on regional banks. The much admired U.S. system for producing innovation has just received a body blow, and the turmoil that led to the death of Silicon Valley Bank isn't over. Silicon Valley Bank, founded in 1983, was born in a time when Silicon Valley was a synonym for "tech" and "innovation." SVB was the crown jewel of banks and the venture capital industry, not just in Silicon Valley, but globally. It's easy to picture these as large firms, and a tiny handful of famous venture firms have hundreds of employees.

☆ Legislate makes contracts easier to draft, query, and sign. Check out the 10-slide pitch deck it used to raise $3.6 million.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

London-based legal startup Legislate just raised $3.6 million in fresh funds. The company makes it easier to draft, query, and sign contracts, reducing legal costs in the process. Check out the 10-slide pitch deck Legislate used to the raise the funds below. A startup that makes legal contracts much easier to draft, query, and sign has raised $3.6 million in fresh funds. Check out the 10-slide pitch deck Legislate used to raise the fresh funds below:

☆ 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.

☆ Silicon Valley Bank's meltdown shows that tech's elites need the government after all
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Emilia David | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Silicon Valley Bank meltdown is teaching the tech industry that regulators are sometimes needed. Tech's relationship with regulation has long been contentiousGovernment regulations, some of tech's most vocal figures contend, can stifle innovation and creativity. "I would suspect that this failure will result in some significant changes to banking regulation," Griffin said. "My logic for that is it isn't sustainable to have a run on a bank triggered mainly on Twitter." Very few in the VC world believe that the move to protect depositors will be bad for the industry's overall health.

At least 10 European VC funds have told their founders to pull funds out of Silicon Valley Bank. Silicon Valley Bank's woes spread overseas on Friday morning as tech investors in Europe followed their US peers and advised founders to pull their cash from the bank. The bank's shares plummeted 60% amid concerns among investors and founders about the safety of their cash. The bank has been a stalwart in the tech industry over the past 40 years, acting as a banking partner and investor for startups across the world. Castiglione said that UK funds were only "screwed" if Europe followed suit with the "US panic contagion."

Silicon Valley Bank was shut down by regulators on Friday. The news has made startup founders worried that they won't be able to pay their employees next week. Startup founders still reeling from Silicon Valley Bank's implosion have something new to stress about: whether they'll be able to access enough money to cut employee paychecks next week. "Lots of startups are missing payroll in 2-4 weeks if a) Silicon Valley Bank doesn't have the deposits b) SVB doesn't get sold or c) SVB isn't rescued." "If you're a startup founder dealing with this, I'm here to help any way I can," Ayush Sharma, founder and CEO of payroll and compliance startup Warp, tweeted.

☆ A Googler who lost her job in January's cuts says being laid off 'freed' her to launch a wellness business after suffering from Lyme disease in college
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Emily Cahill, a software engineer, was one of 12,000 people laid off by Google in January. She told Insider she's starting a wellness club after struggling with Lyme disease in college. Cahill shared her journey with Lyme disease with Insider and how being laid off was a launching pad to start her own business. Lyme disease is a bacterial infection caused by a bite from an infected tick and includes symptoms like high temperatures, fatigue, and loss of energy. Being laid off 'freed' herCahill said being laid off "freed me up a lot" because work was so time consuming.

He's helped design the apps for a host of successful startups, including Gorillas and Arive. He then helped build Zapp, an app for delivery services in the UK, before designing the layout for Gorillas' app. He has since started his own business, Blossom, a design studio for apps, while he's also a designer-in-residence at the Swedish venture-capital firm Creandum, advising startups in the firm's portfolio on app design and recruitment. The company already had a functioning app, but Haas said the company tasked him with "cleaning up" the design. That's why the team also conducted interviews with the brands that sell their items via Arive's app, Haas said.

☆ Fledgling social media sites are competing to be the next Twitter as users abandon the legacy platform. These are the frontrunners.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Gabor Cselle, co-founder & CEO is a former Group Product Manager at Twitter. Funding: T2 has raised $1.1 million from angel investors, Cselle told Insider. "I was like, 'maybe now's the time,'" Cselle told Insider, who reached out and partnered with Oh on their new build. "Usually the safety has come after something bad happens," Oh told Insider. The T2 website name will change so as not to evoke Terminator associations, Cselle told Insider.

The Marcy Lab School in Brooklyn, New York, however, has created an alternative path — a one-year program to help students get lucrative tech jobs that typically go to college graduates with a four-year degree. Partnering with the business communityThe Marcy Lab School co-founders Reuben Ogbanna and Bhattacharjee-Marcantonio share ideas at the whiteboard. Tara McCurrie, CNBCThe co-founders worked with the local community to design a program to prepare students for upwardly mobile careers. "We think The Marcy Lab School can scale to thousands of students here in New York City, and potentially have impacts across the country," said Ogbonna. Overcoming degree requirementsDevonte Duncan was part of the orginal class of nine students at the Marcy Lab School in Brooklyn, New York.

☆ This startup wants to take on PowerPoint and Notion with its interactive presentation software. Check out the 9-slide pitch deck Chronicle used to raise $7.5 million from Accel.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The startup has created interactive presentation tools to modernize outdated storytelling methods. We got an exclusive look at the 9-slide deck it created with its own tools to raise the fresh funds. Sydney and San Francisco-based Chronicle has designed a software tool that enables teams to quickly design sleek presentations. While creating presentations, Chronicle offers users pre-designed blocks as templates so they can save time while creating impactful designs, he added. Check out the 9-slide deck — created using the startup's own interactive tools — that helped secure the fresh funds.

☆ Investor Brianne Kimmel is doubling down on AI with a new bootcamp and $20 million pledge to back hot, new startups in the space
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | April Joyner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Worklife Ventures founder Brianne Kimmel is launching a bootcamp for AI startups. Her firm has pledged $20 million to invest in those AI companies that complete the bootcamp. As part of the AI bootcamp, her firm is committing $20 million to invest into companies that complete the program. "I grew up in northeast Ohio, and a lot of friends from my high school are using this technology," Kimmel said. Formerly a grant program, AI Grant now makes $250,000 investments in AI companies.

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