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Search resuls for: "Venture Fund"


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Venture capital funding was cut in half in the first six months of 2023, according to Crunchbase. The dropoff has triggered an uptick in pre-empted deals, where investors back the most exciting startups. Payrails, Cello, and ElevenLabs are among the startups to close pre-emptive deals this year. Venture capital funding to startups has continued to collapse in 2023. The slowdown has led to something of an uptick in pre-empted funding rounds, where investors come forward with deal terms to exciting early-stage businesses before they even begin fundraising.
Persons: VCs, Tom Mendoza Organizations: Venture, Crunchbase, Energy, EQT Ventures Locations: London, Berlin
Reed Jobs, the son of Steve Jobs, launched Yosemite, a VC firm that will invest in cancer treatments. Reed Jobs, Steve Jobs's oldest son, is striking out on his own. Jobs, one of three children of the Apple cofounder and philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, is launching Yosemite, a venture capital firm that will invest in new cancer treatments, according to a press release. The 31-year-old was inspired by his father to start the fund after Steve Jobs died from complications of pancreatic cancer in 2011, he told The New York Times. Jobs's latest business venture will build on his previous work as a managing director at the Emerson Collective, the mission-driven corporation founded by his mother.
Persons: Reed Jobs, Steve Jobs, Jobs, mother's Emerson, Steve Jobs's, Laurene Powell Jobs, John Doerr, Emerson, , Walter Isaacson, Yosemite Organizations: VC, Apple, New York Times, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, The Rockefeller University, Times, Emerson, Emerson Collective's, Stanford Locations: Yosemite, Hawaii
Mr. Jobs will still be dedicated to fighting cancer. “My dad succumbed to cancer when I was in college at Stanford,” Mr. Jobs said. “I was pre-med because I really wanted to be a doctor and cure people myself. But he returned to the field after completing his master’s degree and led Emerson’s health care division, which has invested in companies and given grants to labs. Of his career path, Mr. Jobs said: “I had never ever wanted to be a venture capitalist.
Persons: Jobs, , ” Mr, you’re, Organizations: Stanford Locations: Yosemite
Sequoia picks the right moment to ditch deadwood
  + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +2 min
The $85 billion venture firm downsized the commitments it expects its investors to make to vehicles targeting cryptocurrency and its own peers, the Wall Street Journal reported. With those investors, known as limited partners, now less pressed to flee private markets, it’s a smart time for Sequoia to help them shift into more promising opportunities. As last year's downturn tanked their public investments, LPs found themselves relatively overinvested in still-highly-valued private markets, forcing them to pull back from the likes of venture funds. As public markets recover – the S&P 500 Index (.SPX) is up almost 20% this year – this “denominator effect” is fading, a Capstone Partners survey suggests. And with LPs once again keen on private markets, they may be more likely to stick around, despite Sequoia’s self-admitted mistakes on investments like now-bankrupt FTX.
Persons: Sequoia’s, Anita Ramaswamy, , Jeffrey Goldfarb, Sharon Lam Organizations: YORK, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Capstone Partners, Twitter, Walmart, BT boss’s, Thomson Locations: Sequoia
Ad verification company DoubleVerify plans to acquire adtech firm Scibids for around $125 million. It intends to use Scibids' AI expertise to help advertisers better target and optimize ad campaigns. DoubleVerify, the publicly-listed ad verification company, has entered into an agreement to acquire AI-powered adtech firm Scibids in a cash and stock deal valued at $125 million. The product matches DoubleVerify's media quality and ad performance data with Scibids' AI algorithms to let advertisers improve the performance of their campaigns. Around $66 million of the Scibids purchase price will be paid in cash with the remainder in DoubleVerify common stock.
Persons: DoubleVerify, Mark Zagorski, Zagorski, Scibids, Brian Andersen, Dick Filippini, Mark Greenbaum Organizations: Diageo, Dell, Fortune, Microsoft, Allianz, Spotify, LUMA Partners Locations: Paris, France, DoubleVerify, adtech
In 2007, while working as a Morgan Stanley analyst, von Tobel started working on a 75-page business plan. A year later, she entered Harvard Business School, assuming she'd need training and connections to launch a successful startup. She credits her detailed business plan, and her conviction that she could tap into an underserved market of people who urgently needed help. Fast forward, I went to Harvard and Harvard Business School, and I remember being taken aback that there was zero education about the wallet and our finances. I was in this extremely cozy, safe cocoon with a clear life plan.
Persons: von Tobel, Morgan Stanley, Von Tobel, Von, hadn't, would've Organizations: CNBC, Harvard Business School, Northwestern Mutual, Harvard, Alexa Locations: New York, America
Retail investor participation in the equity derivatives market jumped 500% in the three years through March, according to data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Once a broker discloses an investor's net worth and income, exchanges could monitor the person's exposure to futures and options contracts across brokerage firms, the other source said. SEBI had proposed a similar framework in 2017 but dropped the idea when brokers cited difficulties in assessing the net worth of their clients. The regulator revived the idea of curbs because of the study showing widespread losses on equity derivatives trades, the sources said. South Korea's financial markets regulator in 2011 introduced entry barriers for retail investors to trade in equity derivatives, including a minimum deposit and compulsory training.
Persons: SEBI, Jayshree, William Mallard Organizations: Securities and Exchange Board of India, Thomson Locations: MUMBAI, India
M12, Microsoft's venture firm, is offloading some of its portfolio on secondary exchanges, sources say. The fund's shares in startups are taking haircuts of between 30% and 70%, three people said. Microsoft's corporate venture capital fund, M12, has been offloading some of its $1 billion portfolio on secondary exchanges, five people familiar with the matter told Insider. One of the people familiar with the sales said M12 sold one large position this month at a 50% discount. A secondary sales boomSecondary sales are becoming more common in the market in general.
Persons: there's, PitchBook, Ashley Stewart, Ben Bergman, bbergman, Darius Rafieyan Organizations: Microsoft, Vertical Aerospace, Google, Investors, Tiger Global
The extreme heat is prompting violent typhoons in Asia and flash floods in the United States. But to the pragmatist, extreme heat is the new normal. The good news: Investors are spending big on climate projects. Global warming helps make periods of extreme heat more frequent, longer and more intense, and it will continue getting worse unless humans essentially stop adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, scientists say. “There’s been huge, huge progress” in developing green technologies and bringing down their costs, said Bella Tonkonogy, the U.S. director of Climate Policy Initiative whose funders include the Bloomberg Foundation and the German government.
Persons: it’s, El Niño, Carl, Friedrich Schleussner, ” “, , DealBook, “ There’s, Bella Tonkonogy Organizations: Analytics, Global, Venture, Initiative, Biden, Bloomberg Foundation Locations: Asia, United States, Berlin, U.S
Moritz, 68, will now focus on Sequoia Heritage, a $15 billion wealth management fund that he helped launch in 2010. The fund will be independent from Sequoia Capital, with focus on a diversified range of assets, according to the letter. A spokesperson for Sequoia Capital confirmed Moritz's exit and declined to comment on details. Sequoia Capital has been going through a generational transition as partner Roelof Botha took on the firm's global leadership position in July 2022. Economic challenges and geopolitical tensions have made venture capital fundraising and investment difficult, and eaten into global venture funds' returns.
Persons: Michael Moritz, Moritz, Roelof Botha, OpenAI's, Mike Vernal, Krystal Hu, Kanjyik Ghosh, Nilutpal, Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Will Dunham Organizations: Sequoia Capital, Reuters, Sequoia Heritage, Google, PayPal, Sequoia, Venture, Silicon, Thomson Locations: Sequoia, United States, Europe, New York, Bengaluru
The problem is, conservative economists at the University of Chicago have spent the past 50 years insisting that under capitalism, predatory pricing is not a thing. Predatory companies could never recoup their losses, which meant predatory behaviors are irrational. Lots of economists have come up with solid counter-counterarguments to the Chicago School's skepticism about predatory pricing. A company that engages in predatory pricing and its late-stage investors might not recoup, but the venture investors do. "If people in Silicon Valley start thinking about this as a predatory pricing scam, then I think the late-stage investors will start asking questions."
Persons: Matt Wansley, Wansley, we're, Uber, Cardozo, Sam Weinstein, gobs, you've, , Brooke, Spencer Waller, Matsushita, Weinstein —, Justice Department —, it's, Weinstein, Matt, that's, Will Uber, Waller, David, Maurer, they've, Adam Rogers Organizations: Lyft, Big Tech, Cardozo School of Law, Justice Department, University of Chicago, Chicago School, Supreme, Matsushita Electric Industry Co, Zenith Radio Corp, Brooke Group, Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp, United, Loyola's School of Law, Venture, Matsushita, VCs, Chicago, Loyola, pharma, aha, Wansley Locations: United States, Chicago, Silicon Valley, Silicon
Schlabs also reached out to clients she wanted to work with on social media. I am reaching out to see if you are in need of product photography and/or social media content creation. I know how overwhelming it can be to constantly need new content for social media and ads. He said he starts by compiling a list of 50 dream clients and gets their contact details from social media or their website. He suggested freelancers build their profiles on social media and Google before cold-emailing and prepare a "brief, simple, and straightforward" positioning statement to describe what they do.
Persons: they've, they're, Deirdre Schlabs Deidre Schlabs, Schlabs, She'd, Christian Di Bratto, Di Bratto, YouTuber Justin Escalona, Tommy Schoenith, Gal Akbari, Read, who's, Spaudo, Jenny Rose Spaudo Jenny Rose Spaudo, Hunter, Jenny Rose, she'd, Boye, Matthew Boye Matthew Boye, Kamaru Usman, hadn't, he's, I've, you've, Glantz, Jen Glantz Jen Glantz Organizations: Boston, influencers, Google, Hire Locations: Instagram, Toronto, Nigerian
Ark Invest has marked down its Twitter valuation by 47% since it was taken over by Elon Musk, the Wall Street Journal reported. Musk had recently tweeted that Twitter's advertising revenue has been cut in half since he took over the company. Given Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion late last year, the markdown would put the company's current valuation at about $23 billion, based on Ark's estimate. "We're still negative cash flow, due to ~50% drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load," Musk said of Twitter on Twitter. We also think that longer term, Elon and team are very serious that they're going to turn this into an everything app," Wood said.
Persons: Elon Musk, Musk, Cathie Wood, Wood, Elon Organizations: Elon, Wall Street Journal, Service, Wall Street, Invest's Venture, Twitter, Fidelity, Ark, Nvidia, Nasdaq Locations: Wall, Silicon
It's an opportunity worth watching for investors, and crypto speculators have recently been doing just that. Grayscale Investments recently highlighted three potential risks posed by AI that crypto could potentially limit – identity verification, centralization and data ownership and privacy. Accredited U.S. investors can gain direct exposure to AI-related crypto protocols by investing in private venture fundraising rounds, he added. "So far in 2023, venture capitalists have invested $422 million in crypto applications related to AI, privacy, and identity," according to Grayscale. "In total, the crypto-AI intersection represents more than 10% of total crypto venture capital (VC) funding to date, including two out of the four largest funding rounds."
Persons: , memecoin influencer Elon Musk, Jack O'Holleran, O'Holleran, William Ogden Moore, Andreessen Horowitz, Sam Altman, Smart, We've Organizations: Nvidia, CNBC Locations: U.S, Gensyn
Seed funding valuations sprout a bubble
  + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Anita Ramaswamy | ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +3 min
Their need for new cash was nearly three times higher than the available supply last quarter, according to the report. Companies raising seed rounds in today’s market might command higher prices in part because they are better prepared. But it’s unlikely that today’s cohort of seed-stage startups is so markedly superior to predecessors that it warrants record high prices. A newfound focus on seed companies could just be VCs’ latest justification for keeping the tech bubble afloat. Median valuations for venture rounds in startups at all other stages captured by the report have fallen this year relative to their 2022 levels.
Persons: PitchBook, Lauren Silva Laughlin, Sharon Lam Organizations: YORK, Reuters, Venture, National Venture Capital Association, Carta, Tiger Global, Thomson
At the same time the company continues to raise money for its latest venture capital fund. For years, Tiger Global, Chase Coleman's $50 billion investment fund, went on a fundraising tear, raising billions of dollars in fresh capital and dominating the venture ecosystem in the process. This includes the firm's flagship hedge fund as well its crossover fund, created in 2021, which combines Tiger's public and private investments into a single strategy. Between July 2022 and July 2023 the Tiger Global fund, the Tiger Global Crossover fund, and the Tiger Global Long Opportunities fund, through their US and Cayman Islands feeder funds, raised about $53 million in total. A spokesperson for Tiger Global declined to comment for this story.
Persons: Chase, Carlyle, TCV, Tiger Organizations: Tiger, SEC, Tiger Global, Apollo, TPG, Insight Partners Locations: Cayman Islands, PitchBook
Vietnam's digitalization efforts fuel startup scene
  + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Nyshka Chandran | ) www.cnbc.com   time to read: +2 min
Vietnam's tech startups are reaping the benefits as the country sets its sights on becoming a fully digital society by 2030. In 2021, new startup support centers Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City were announced. It ranked third in terms of deal count in Southeast Asia, and fourth in deal value last year, the report said. Notably, domestic funds were the top investors in local startups last year, accounting for 45% of total deal value. However, the total value of investment in Vietnamese startups was only $634 million in 2022 — down 56% year-on-year from the record high of $1.4 billion in 2021, the report noted.
Persons: Momo, Sky Mavis Organizations: French IT, World Bank, Ventures, National Innovation Center, Ministry of Planning, Investment Locations: French, Ho Chi Minh City, Silicon, Hanoi, Da, Southeast Asia
July 11 (Reuters) - Sapphire Ventures plans to invest over $1 billion in AI enterprise startups, doubling down on the technology's adoption by companies across the world, its president Jai Das said at the Reuters MOMENTUM conference in Austin on Tuesday. The $1 billion in capital will come from Sapphire's existing funds, which have $10 billion under management and about $3 billion waiting to the deployed. The majority will be a direct investment in AI startups, while some capital will also go to early-stage AI-focused venture funds through its limited partner fund. Over $40 billion has been invested into AI startups in the past six months, accounting for nearly a quarter of overall startup funding, according to PitchBook data. With headquarters in Austin, Texas, Sapphire has invested in AI-powered enterprise startups including Clari and DataRobot.
Persons: Jai Das, it's, Sapphire, Das, Krystal Hu, David Evans, Deepa Babington Organizations: Sapphire Ventures, Thomson Locations: Austin, Austin , Texas
Investors poured more than $40 billion into AI startups in the past six months, the data showed. That includes a $10 billion investment by Microsoft (MSFT.O) in OpenAI and $1.3 billion in funding for rival Inflection AI. "I haven't written any checks in the past 18 months," said Kevin Colleran, a co-founder at early-stage firm Slow Ventures. PitchBook said large investors weren't actively participating in venture funding and outsized deals that had pushed deal values to records were no longer happening. Venture capital funding globally hit an annual record of $745.1 billion in 2021.
Persons: PitchBook, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Kevin Colleran, weren't, Mary D'Onofrio, Krystal Hu, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: Venture, Investors, Microsoft, Slow Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Thomson Locations: OpenAI, America, U.S, Europe, New York
June 29 (Reuters) - Typeface, a generative AI platform for enterprise content creation, said on Thursday that it was valued at $1 billion after an oversubscribed Series B funding round led by Salesforce's (CRM.N) global investment arm, bringing the total capital raised to $165 million. The $100 million round also saw participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Madrona, GV (Google Ventures), Menlo Ventures, and M12, Microsoft's Venture Fund, the company said. In February, Lightspeed Venture Partners, GV, Menlo Ventures, and M12 invested $65 million when Typeface emerged from stealth and launched publicly. AI startups have emerged as a bright spot for investments this year amid a wider slowdown in funding caused by rising interest rates and high inflation. Editing by Gerry DoyleOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons: Salesforce's, Gokul, Krystal Hu, Gerry Doyle Organizations: Lightspeed Venture Partners, GV, Google Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Microsoft's Venture Fund, Google, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru, Toronto
Expansion to Nigeria, Williams said, is a first step on the path to further international growth. In Nigeria, SoLo Funds has already connected with Paga, a mobile payment company, Platform Capital, an African investing firm based in Nigeria, and Endeavor, an entrepreneurial community network. SoLo Funds users have the opportunity to lend small amounts of money, ranging from $50-$1,000, to peers on the platform. That mission has not come without controversy, and allegations that SoLo Funds is creating a new form of predatory short-term lending. The complexity of lending regulation in the U.S. on a state-by-state basis has prepared SoLo Funds for the equally complex international launch.
Persons: Williams, Elon, " Williams, Rodney Williams, Travis Holoway, We've Organizations: Procter & Gamble, Visa, Intel, Synchrony, CNBC, Aspen Ideas, Platform, Endeavor, Google, NBCUniversal News Locations: Nigeria, Africa, America, Connecticut, California, Washington, United States, U.S, Latin America, Southeast Asia
The company, which has raised $345 million in funding from the likes of SoftBank Group (9984.T) and was last valued at $1.2 billion, has headquarters in Mexico and Brazil. CEO Sujay Tyle said the total number laid off was around 8-9%, with the company's headcount remaining over 400 employees. He added that those affected were concentrated in projects that were no longer a priority, with plans to refocus on brands generating over $15 million in revenue. "It was a difficult day," Tyle said of the layoffs, adding there were no plans for another series of job cuts. Tyle added that the company had a "quite healthy runway" and was now cash flow positive.
Persons: Sujay Tyle, Tyle, Isabel Woodford, Diane Craft Organizations: MEXICO CITY, Reuters, SoftBank, Thomson Locations: MEXICO, Mexico, Brazil, Brazilian, Colombian
Despite a bloated pipeline of companies waiting to go public and a rebound in tech stocks that pushed the Nasdaq up 30% in the first half of 2023, the IPO drought continues. Last Friday, Israeli beauty and tech company Oddity, which runs the Il Makiage and Spoiled Child brands, filed to go public on the Nasdaq. "You can make 15%-20% in the stock market but lose 15%-20%." "I think that’s done some harm to the traditional IPO market." With the public market still pretty closed, they're asking for alternatives."
Persons: Karl, Josef Hildenbrand, Turo, Reddit, hasn't, aren't, Lise Buyer, Buyer, Goldman Sachs, May, Shannon Stapleton, Jake Dollarhide, Dollarhide, Airbnb, they've, Instacart, Byron Deeter, Deeter, Larry Aschebrook, Aschebrook Organizations: AFP, Getty, Nasdaq, V, New York Stock Exchange, Apple, Nvidia, Coinbase Global Inc, Reuters Bankers, CNBC, Federal Reserve, Longbow Asset Management, Facebook, Clover Health, Venture, Companies, Bessemer Venture Partners, doesn't, Employees, Spotify Locations: U.S, Portola Valley , California, Cava, New York, Pinterest
Billionaires like Google's Eric Schmidt are betting big on AI through their family offices. Insider talked to family office insiders to learn how to find real deals amid the hype cycle. So many startups are claiming to use AI that family offices are wary of "AI washing" when considering direct venture deals, according to Karl Rogers, chief investment officer at Irish family office Elkstone. But they are still circumspect, he said, as family offices typically prioritize long-term wealth preservation over aggressive growth. "Hype cycles tend to imply immediate returns, which is contrary to how family offices usually think," said Hsu, whose fund counts the Pritzker family as investors.
Persons: Eric Schmidt, Stanley Druckenmiller, ChatGPT, Karl Rogers, Rogers, Paul Hsu, Hsu, Pritzker, They've, Jon Dutton, Dutton, Anthony Manna, he's, I've Organizations: Nvidia, Google, Mistral, Fidelity, M7 Holdings, Bloomfield Robotics
The New Venture Fund raised over $950 million in 2021, according to the group's records. The listed donation to the New Venture Fund coincided with Thiel helping Republican candidates during the 2022 midterms. Massoglia suggested another scenario: that accountants for the Thiel Foundation may have filled out the forms incorrectly. The New Venture Fund is part of a network of left-leaning nonprofits guided by philanthropic advisory firm Arabella Advisors. Just like the New Venture Fund and the Donors Trust, the Sixteen Thirty Fund does not publicly disclose its donors.
Persons: Peter Thiel, Republican megadonor Peter Thiel, It's, Thiel, Anna Massoglia, OpenSecrets, Massoglia, Mitch McConnell, Brendan Fischer, Thiel Foundation hadn't, George Soros, Arabella Advisors Organizations: PayPal, Palantir Technologies, Founders Fund, Miami Beach Convention Center, Republican, Democratic Party, CNBC, The Thiel Foundation, New Venture Fund, D.C, New Venture, Thiel, Thiel Foundation, The New York Times, Donors Trust, Washington D.C, Google, America, Democratic, America Votes Locations: Miami , Florida, Washington, OpenSecrets, Ky
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