Private Equity and Venture Capital Firms Shared their Outlook for 2020

For the third year in a row, S&P Global Market Intelligence conducted an annual survey among global Private Equity (PE) professionals,[1] this time expanding its outreach to Venture Capital (VC) firms around the world. The study focused on 2020 investment sentiment, the main risks for portfolio companies, preferred investment strategies and exits, and how the PE community is approaching Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors. READ MORE

VCs have to fundraise too

Walking into the Hotel Palace in Berlin mid-February is like stepping through the looking glass. 

It seems like a regular startup conference — everyone is talking about fundraising, unicorns and disruption — except the founders have disappeared and the kings have become paupers. Everything is a little topsy turvy. READ MORE

A Decade-Long Scorecard for Women Raising Venture Capital Shows Progress, But Is It Enough?

Women entrepreneurs are raising more money than ever. That should be good news, and in some ways, it is. In advance of International Women's Day on March 8, Crunchbase has released a slew of data about women and venture capital during the past decade. While women raised more money, they don't appear to be making much progress when compared with their male peers. Here are six takeaways from the findings. READ MORE

How to Profit Without Venture Capital

Just a few days ago, I was on the phone with a friend and fellow founder who runs a direct-to-consumer marketing platform and had spent quite aggressively on user acquisition over the past year. Casually, I suggested that he should work with a former colleague of mine who was a whiz at growth marketing and could probably lower his Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) by more than 25 percent. He didn’t hesitate for a moment before replying: “I don’t want to spend it. We need to focus on profitability — our core product — not growth.” READ MORE

How An Early Pinterest Investment Turned NFL Legend Joe Montana Into An All-Pro Venture Capitalist

With less than a minute left in the 1981 NFC championship game, the odds weren’t looking good for Joe Montana’s San Francisco 49ers. They trailed the fearsome Dallas Cowboys by six points as the quarterback rolled to his right, chased by a squadron of defenders, including the six-foot-nine-inch Ed “Too Tall” Jones. But Montana kept his cool, losing Jones with a pump fake before lofting a spiral into the gray sky toward the deepest part of the end zone—where the football landed in the outstretched hands of tight end Dwight Clark to put the Niners ahead for good. READ MORE

How Venture Capital in the US and China is Shifting

There’s no shortage of headlines amidst the escalating US-China trade dispute. Even with the recent outbreak of Coronavirus, the US administration seems to have no intention to lift tariffs on China. The Chinese government is also implementing currency controls to prevent capital outflow that we have observed in the last five years. Additionally, home-grown trends continue to influence the trajectory of cross-border investments. In the wake of ongoing speculation, investors in both countries are left to navigate an increasingly complex web of political and economic variables. READ MORE

1955 Capital’s Andrew Chung: Why ClimateTech Is Heating Up in Venture Capital

The climate has long been a hot button topic for politicians and activists, and it is becoming one for investors too. Millennials, now the largest demographic in the United States, are far more likely to choose products, services, companies, and candidates that reduce damage to the environment – or better yet, improve it. In 2018, sustainability-related products grew faster than their conventional counterparts in more than 90 percent of Consumer Packaged Goods product categories. READ MORE