Top related persons:
Top related locs:
Top related orgs:

Search resuls for: "Unicorn"


25 mentions found


Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Hamas militants are posing as IDF soldiers. He said Israelis should ask a code question: who represented Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest. AdvertisementAdvertisementIsrael's former prime minister, Naftali Bennett, gave an unconventional piece of advice to help Israelis scared of being tricked by Hamas militants posing as Israel Defense Force soldiers. The code question, he said, is "who represented Israel in the Eurovision." AdvertisementAdvertisementAccording to the IDF, Hamas militants also went to towns on the border of Gaza and took hostages.
Persons: Naftali Bennett, , Bennett, Noa Kirel, Richard Hecht Organizations: Israeli, Service, Israel Defense Force, News Israel, Hamas, Israel Defense Forces, Nova, Residents, News Locations: Israel, Israeli, IDF, Gaza, Kibbutz Be'eri
A Googler who quit the company just before mass layoffs has raised $1.3 million for his HR tech startup, Candidate.fyi. Connors resigned from Google at the end of 2022, shortly before the tech giant announced it would cull staff, and as layoffs hit the broader sector. Connors said the broader layoffs spree influenced his and his brother's decision to form a startup "earlier than expected." "The idea of Candidate.fyi had been brewing for a while, and the experience of mass layoffs … made me realize the urgency of addressing the broken candidate experience." Check out the 12-slide pitch deck the founders used to secure the fresh funding.
Persons: Chris Connors, Kyle Connors, Connors, Candidate.fyi, Google, SuperAngel.Fund Organizations: Google, Yext Locations: . New York
EBay also sells cars in the UK, though its own marketplace consists of consumers or dealers selling to consumers. The pandemic "acted as a massive accelerant" for Motorway because physical auctions were closed for months and dealers needed access to cars, Leathes said. In 2022, its auctions doubled to 1.7 billion pounds ($2.06 billion). That should double again this year, giving Motorway around a 5% share in a UK used-car market worth 80 billion pounds, Leathes said. Dealers can now use "wallets" for multiple transactions and Motorway now picks up around 30% of the cars it sells and delivers them to dealers.
Persons: Tom Leathes, Leathes, Nick Templeton, Templeton, Lewis Jent, Nick Carey, Nick Zieminski Organizations: eBay, Reuters, EBay, Index Ventures, Growth, BMW I Ventures, BMW, Dealers, Tesla, Thomson Locations: Britain, U.S, Leathes, CarShop
Liz Wessel has heard more than her fair share of startup pitches in her career as a founder. Now, Wessel is fulfilling that desire to invest and advise founders full-time, by joining the early-stage venture capital firm First Round Capital as the team's newest investment partner. Wessel had met many of the partners at First Round Capital while she was still the CEO of WayUp. She shared that Y Combinator's managing director Michael Seibel counseled her directly on her decision to jump into venture investing full-time. And given the increasingly tenuous state of the seed market, she'll be looking for startup founders that are particularly knowledgable about their customer base and have "strong business fundamentals," she said.
Persons: Liz Wessel, Wessel, WayUp, JJ Fliegelman, Fliegelman, Michael Seibel, Combinator, she's Organizations: WayUp, Yello, Google, First, YC
Tech unicorn Carta filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of California in August against its former Chief Product Officer Heidi Johnson, demanding she turn over secret recordings of the company's top executives and board members. It's the second time the company has gone to federal court in order to prevent the release of what it says are damaging recordings. In court documents reviewed by Insider, Carta states that Johnson was fired in November 2022 for having a "polarizing" management style and for taking unauthorized leave. Shortly after her termination, both Johnson and Talton filed complaints with the company's board raising issues about her firing and the conduct of CEO Henry Ward. Additionally, Carta is seeking monetary damages from Johnson for breach of contract with the amount to be determined at trial.
Persons: Carta, Heidi Johnson, It's, Johnson, Andreessen Horowitz, Jerry Talton, Talton, Henry Ward, Lindaur, Emily Kramer Organizations: Northern District of, Lightspeed, New York's Southern, Carta Locations: Northern District, Northern District of California, Silicon, New York's, New York's Southern District, Carta
French verification startup Ondorse has raised $4 million in seed funding from Deezer and Onfido investor Eurazeo. The Paris-based company, founded in 2022, has built an array of tools to help businesses manage their know-your-customer (KYC) workflows. Ondorse effectively leverages the proficiencies of businesses in the compliance space to provide a clearer and quicker view of its processes. Ondorse has raised $4 million in seed funding just nine months after its $2.5 million pre-seed round which was also led by French fund Eurazeo with participation from tech fund ISAI. "We feel we have the right expertise to build this product given the changing regulatory landscape," Boelle said.
Persons: Eurazeo, Ondorse, Alan, I've, Aymeric Boelle, Boelle Locations: Deezer, Paris, Europe, France
SYDNEY, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Vietnamese internet company VNG Ltd has delayed a $150 million U.S. initial public offering (IPO) due to volatile market conditions, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The person spoke on condition of anonymity as the information is not yet public. Founded in 2004, VNG was Vietnam's first unicorn, or a startup valued at $1 billion or more. VNG still aims to carry out a New York listing, likely in the first half of 2024, they added. Reporting by Scott Murdoch in Sydney and Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Rashmi AichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons: VNG, Scott Murdoch, Yantoultra, Himani Sarkar, Rashmi Organizations: VNG, Reuters, U.S, Thomson Locations: New York, Sydney, Singapore
Carbon accounting startup Plan A has just secured $27 million in a round led by Californian tech investor Lightspeed Venture Partners. Berlin-based Plan A, founded in 2017, is one of many startups helping big companies measure and manage their carbon emissions. Carbon accounting companies raised $5 billion at the sector's 2021 peak, per PitchBook, as venture capitalists and large asset managers piled into the buzzy category. One way Plan A differentiates itself is its steady pace, cofounder and CEO Lubomila Jordanova told Insider. Operating in a hype market can be tricky because it deflates the value of carbon accounting in the long term, she said.
Persons: Lubomila Jordanova, Jordanova Organizations: Lightspeed Venture Partners, Visa, Deutsche Bank, Opera Tech Ventures, BNP, BMW, BMW Group, Greenhouse, TÜV Rheinland Locations: Berlin, Europe, France, Scandinavia, Paris, London
Bahat brings this same radical directness to Bloomberg Beta, the early-stage venture capital fund housed within the larger Bloomberg empire that he's run for the past decade. And Bloomberg Beta was making investments in generative AI as far back as 2015, before the term "generative AI" even existed. "It felt like we were just waiting for the right moment," said Cham, Bloomberg Beta partner and de-facto chief technologist, "where the rest of the world would see it." Bloomberg Beta made the decision early on to publish its entire operating manual on GitHub, including sensitive information about average check size and investment criteria. Kieran Snyder, the founder of generative AI startup Textio which Bloomberg Beta invested in in 2015, has a shorthand for describing the role of Beta's three partners.
Persons: Roy Bahat's, Bahat, James Cham, Karin Klein, Shivon Zillis, Elon Musk's, Cham, ChatGPT, VCs, Bloomberg Beta, Dan Doctoroff, Mike Bloomberg, Doctoroff, Bahat's chutzpah, Bloomberg —, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Tade Oyerinde, Sam Altman, Peter Thiel's Founder's, Roy didn't, Oyerinde, Kieran Snyder, who's, Apple Lisa, Klein, Karen, Snyder, Roy, Zilis Organizations: Port Authority, World Trade Center, IGN, Bloomberg Beta, Bloomberg, LinkedIn, Elon, Beta, Apple, New Locations: New York, Silicon Valley, East, California
NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Consider your tolerance for riskAs a fairly risk-averse founder, Rabinovitch Consky always knew she wanted to find a gradual way to grow rather than raise money to scale as fast as possible. Marnie Rabinovitch Consky, the founder of Thigh Society. "It was always very clear what I was leaving on the table by not taking investment," Rabinovitch Consky said. "We don't even realize how much we've internalized this single narrative — it can weigh on our brains and make us feel less adequate as founders," Rabinovitch Consky said.
Persons: , Marnie Rabinovitch Consky, that's, Rabinovitch Consky, Sarah Adler, Adler, Monisha Bajaj, I've, Bajaj Organizations: Service, M, Times
European venture capital giant Lakestar, an early supporter of fintech unicorn Revolut, has emerged as a prominent backer of French fintech startup Swan. Swan raised the funds in a series B investment led by European venture capital giant Lakestar. Accel, another venture capital firm, previously led Swan's series A round in 2021. "What we had in mind with our co-founders was that it shouldn't be that complex," he told CNBC. Georgia Watson, a principal at Lakestar based in the firm's London office, said the firm had been tracking Swan "for about a year."
Persons: Swan, Nicolas Benady, Benady, Georgia Watson, Watson, Goldman Sachs Organizations: Accel, Swan, CNBC, ABN Amro, ING Group Locations: French, Netherlands, London
Founders say VCs are increasingly demanding detailed data and visibility into their startups before considering a deal. But some in the industry say that for early stage startups, a reliance on data can create an illusion of certainty. Half a dozen early stage startup founders tell Insider that gone are the days when a good idea and flashy pitch deck were enough to close a deal. He described it as looking for "the golden playbook for investing in early stage startups." For his part Hasan says that when speaking to potential investors, he views an obsession with financials and data as a red flag.
Persons: Miguel Guerrero, Guerrero, He's, Fahad Hassan, Hasan, Keyvan Firouzi, Firouzi, Jason Calacanis, it's, Dorothee Grant, Avante Price, James Cham, Cham, Hassan Organizations: IRL, Activant, Stanford, Carta, Investors, Bloomberg Beta Locations: New York
A Wall Street sign is pictured outside the New York Stock Exchange in New York, October 28, 2013. Barclays (BARC.L), Goldman Sachs (GS.N), JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), and Mizuho Financial Group (8411.T) are the lead underwriters for the offering. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup are lead underwriters on the offering, the company said in its filing. Its shares are expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "KVYO". Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Bank of America are underwriters of the IPO, according to the filing.
Persons: Carlo Allegri, T Rowe Price, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Instacart, Fidji Simo, confidentially, Klaviyo, Morgan Stanley, Chibuike Oguh, Lance Tupper, Michelle Price, Aurora Ellis Organizations: New York Stock Exchange, REUTERS, Arm Holdings, Japan's Softbank, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, Apple, Nvidia, Devices, Intel, Samsung Electronics, AMD, Samsung, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Barclays, JPMorgan, Mizuho Financial Group, underwriters, Nasdaq, Norges Bank Investment Management, Norges Bank, Sequoia Capital, D1 Capital Partners, Valiant Capital Management, Facebook, Reuters, Summit Partners, Citigroup, VNG Corp, HK, Temasek, UBS, Bank of America, Thomson Locations: New York, U.S, Russia, Ukraine, Baltimore, TCV, Sequoia, Canadian, United States, Chi Minh City, Singapore
MEXICO CITY, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Mexican fintech Stori on Thursday announced the acquisition of MasCaja, a financial firm that will provide it a license to broaden its product portfolio in a market where many lack access to financial services. "We want to take the next step to boost financial inclusion," Stori co-founder Marlene Garayzar told Reuters. Stori, which reached unicorn status last year, already offers credit cards with lines starting at 500 Mexican pesos ($28), in a country where government data shows less than 35% of the adult population has formal credit. Earlier this year, Stori said it had reached 2 million users. ($1 = 17.5722 Mexican pesos)Reporting by Valentine Hilaire; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons: Stori, Marlene Garayzar, Nubank, Valentine Hilaire, Leslie Adler Organizations: MEXICO CITY, Reuters, ABC Capital Bank, Thomson Locations: MEXICO, Mexico, Argentine
Funding to European startups across the board dropped by almost 60% to $23 billion in the first six months of 2023, according to Crunchbase data. ElevenLabs, a London-based artificial intelligence startup founded by Google and Palantir alumni, pulled in $18 million at a $100 million valuation a year after it was founded. Mistral, another European startup set up by ex-Facebook and DeepMind staffers, raised $113 million a month after it was founded. AI has been of particular interest to investors with similar hype surrounding a deal for London-based text-to-voice startup ElevenLabs. Industry stakeholders believe that teams springing from already successful companies to set up their own startups will be very attractive with some predicting startups founded between 2022 and 2024 primed to be very in demand in the future.
Persons: Andreessen Horowitz, David Schreiber, Duco van, Pivot, Marc, Antoine Lacroix, Romain Libeau, Sifted, Filip Dames, Dames Organizations: Google, Mistral, Facebook, Ventures, Cocoa, Club, Cherry Ventures, Sequoia, Industry Locations: Europe, London, Paris, Berlin
Vivek Ramaswamy recently compared anti-racism activist and author Ibram X. Kendi to a KKK Grand Wizard. The comments are part of a typical playbook for GOP candidates of color, Kendi told Insider. Kendi said Ramaswamy may not even believe what he says when he makes inflammatory comments. Kendi said comments like that suggest that Ramaswamy isn't a serious candidate for president, saying he is "auditioning to be Donald Trump's VP." Ramaswamy told Fox News that Trump was the "best president of the 21st century."
Persons: Vivek Ramaswamy, Ibram, Kendi, Ramaswamy, wasn't, we're, Ayanna Pressley, Pressley, I've, Donald Trump's, Trump Organizations: Service, Republican, Klux Klan, Congressional, Klan, GOP, Trump, Fox News, Wizards Locations: Wall, Silicon, America, Jacksonville , Florida
The logo of Thailand Stock exchange is pictured at an exhibition hall in Bangkok, Thailand, May 12, 2016. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsTOKYO, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Thai food delivery startup Line Man Wongnai has begun appointing advisors to prepare for an initial public offering and is targeting a listing as soon as 2025, according to a senior executive at the Southeast Asian unicorn. Line Man Wongnai competes with Singapore-based Grab (GRAB.O), Foodpanda, and the food delivery business of Siam Commercial Bank. It was formed in 2020 from a merger of Line Man, the Thai food delivery business of Line, and restaurant aggregator Wongnai. "We are in a position to really help digitalise Thailand," said Chung, a former Goldman Sachs banker from South Korea who previously worked for Line, adding that the food delivery business is gaining market share.
Persons: Athit, Wongnai, Young Chung, Chung, Goldman Sachs, Sam Nussey, Yantoultra Ngui, Stephen Coates Organizations: Thailand Stock, REUTERS, Rights, Reuters, Siam Commercial Bank, Siam Cement, FoodStory, Thomson Locations: Bangkok, Thailand, United States, Asia, Singapore, Siam, South Korea
Inflation showed its sticky nature in July, rising slightly as increases in services costs offset a decline in the price of goods, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported on Thursday. The personal consumption expenditures price index, a metric closely followed by the Federal Reserve, rose 0.2% for the month and 3.3% for the 12-month period. The core index, stripping out energy and food costs, rose 0.2% and 4.2%, respectively. “The decline in house prices appears to have abated, which means that the contribution from shelter to core inflation next year may stabilize if not increase. Upside inflation risk is also present in healthcare services where insurance prices are expected to rise this October along with a continued upward pressure on labor demand in the sector, thus suggesting higher wage costs.”
Persons: Joseph Brusuelas, Jerome Powell, ” Powell, , Shana Orczyk Sissel, Joe Davis Organizations: Economic, Federal, RSM, Dow Jones, Banrion Capital Management, Vanguard Locations: , Wyoming
Vivek Ramaswamy has recently made a series of controversial comments about race. He said white supremacy is rare, racism is "manufactured," and compared Ayanna Pressley to the KKK. AdvertisementAdvertisementNBC host Chuck Todd asked about the Jacksonville shooting and how Ramaswamy would address racially motivated violence as president. At a campaign stop in Iowa on Friday, Ramaswamy suggested white supremacy is as realistic as unicorns. Maybe I will meet a — maybe I will meet a unicorn sooner.
Persons: Vivek Ramaswamy, Ayanna Pressley, Ramaswamy, Ramaswamy's, Martin Luther King Jr, Chuck Todd, colorblind Organizations: Service, GOP, Klux Klan, NBC, Jacksonville, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, CNN Locations: Florida, Wall, Silicon, America, United States, Jacksonville , Florida, Washington, Iowa
Vietnamese internet startup VNG files for IPO in the US
  + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +2 min
SINGAPORE, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Vietnamese internet company VNG Corp has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States via VNG Ltd, a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing showed. IPO proceeds will be used to pay original foreign investors who were direct shareholders of the company and repay outstanding loans, among others, the filing showed. Founded in 2004, VNG was Vietnam's first unicorn, or startup valued at $1 billion or more, and it inked a preliminary agreement in 2017 with U.S. bourse operator Nasdaq Inc to explore an IPO. The Ho Chi Minh City-headquartered company's businesses include online games, payments, cloud services and Vietnam's most popular messaging app, Zalo. Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Bank of America are underwriters of the IPO, according to the filing.
Persons: VNG, Morgan Stanley, VinFast, Seth Farbman, Yantoultra Ngui, Jacqueline Wong, Sonali Paul Organizations: VNG Corp, VNG Ltd, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, HK, Temasek, U.S . bourse, Nasdaq Inc, Citigroup, UBS, Bank of America, underwriters, U.S ., DoubleDragon Corp, Nasdaq, Carsome, New, VStock, Thomson Locations: SINGAPORE, United States, Vietnam, U.S, Singapore, Chi Minh City, U.S . Philippine, New York
It's an old saw: The most important factors for a strong IPO market are an up market and stable interest rates. The problem is that there is not much similarity between Arm and tech unicorns. It's a tough choice: Negotiate onerous new rounds of funding with venture capital firms, or go public at a lower valuation. But if you can't, you either take another lower funding round or go public at a lower valuation." Many companies still looking to go public "This won't open the floodgates for tech unicorns," Kennedy said.
Persons: Rivian, Matt Kennedy, Santosh Rao, Rao, Johnson, Kennedy, Don, Softbank, Birkenstock Organizations: Labor, Renaissance Capital, Manhattan Venture Research, London Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, Softbank, Vision Group, PayPal, Shein Locations: China, IPOs
Two Musicals, One Lonesome World
  + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Laura Collins-Hughes | ) www.nytimes.com   time to read: +1 min
There is little to be gained from getting overly attached to source material. When a story told first in one form is adapted into another, it becomes a different creature — in the details and sometimes the broad outlines, too. The book is a quiet, gentle thing, and it takes its time, layering in the details of Addie and Louis’s pasts and presents. Each has been lonely since long before their spouses died: his marriage marred by a scandalous affair, hers numbed by the death of a child. When Addie’s young grandson, Jamie, comes to stay with her, he’s lonely at first, too, and scared of the dark.
Persons: Kent Haruf’s, Addie, Louis, gingerly, Addie’s, Jamie, Emily Mann, Lucy Simon, Carmel Dean, Susan Birkenhead, Susan H, Schulman, Lauren Ward, Stephen Bogardus Organizations: Berkshire, Broadway Locations: Stockbridge , Mass,
Opinion | The Hidden Risk of Getting Paid in Stock Options
  + stars: | 2023-08-18 | by ( Peter Coy | ) www.nytimes.com   time to read: +1 min
You hear two stories about how private companies raise money to grow. One is that the regulations on them are too restrictive, depriving the nation of innovation and jobs. A new study makes a pretty strong case for the “too loose” story, at least in the case of one class of investors: employees of those private companies. You might not think of employees as investors, but they definitely are if they are paid with stock options, warrants or other forms of equity compensation. Employees can be surprisingly uninformed about the value of the stock options they’re granted, even if the options account for a big share of their compensation.
Locations: United States
From Karat to Spill, venture capitalists are betting on creator-focused companies in 2023.Insider is highlighting 14 VC firms that are backing startups in the space right now. About three years ago, the "creator economy" was a fiery buzzword that emerged out of the bustling influencer-marketing and social-media industries. By 2021, the space had raised approximately $939 million in venture capital, according to Crunchbase data. Insider is highlighting over a dozen VC firms, as well as their partners who specialize in creator-focused startups, that are funding the next wave of creator-economy companies. Here are 14 VC firms funding the creator economy in 2023:Note: Firms are listed in alphabetical order.
Persons: Marlon Nichols, Nichols, Karat Organizations: MaC Venture
The firm developed a propriety model that uses AI to predict which early-stage startups are most likely to become unicorns, which are companies valued at more than a billion dollars. "Our AI eliminates about 99% of all early-stage companies from consideration, because our data predicts these companies have a higher probability of failure." Another surprising thing about TRAC's model is it does not value founders as predictive. "Similar vintage early-stage VCs would have had upwards of 20% of their portfolio be false positive within the first few years. Here are the 30 companies TRAC's model identified as being the next unicorns, in alphabetical order, all with a valuation of less than $250 million.
Persons: Fred Campbell, Joseph Aaron, Scott Pyne, Steve Marek, Dick Fredericks, Aaron, Sam Altman, MBAs, Angel SuperForecasters, Campbell Locations: San Francisco
Total: 25