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Silicon Valley has been a “thing” now for more than 40 years, and venture capitalists have developed a colorful vocabulary to refer to their everyday concepts. Like any bubble, theirs is marked by enough insider slang and professional puns to fill an entire dictionary.
Some basic business terms sprinkled into the mix, like “valuation” or “disruption,” are easy enough to deduce. But others are a bit trickier. READ MORE
In the last two months, Scott Moss has watched his mentee change between three jobs. Each time, the engineer — who only has two years’ experience — has nearly doubled her salary, said Moss, a principal at Initialized Capital.
“She was so nervous that they were going to call her out for leaving a job within a month,” said Moss. “But no, they were really excited to have her, and they offered her the moon.” (For the record, Moss said, he wasn’t encouraging his mentee to job-hop.) READ MORE
Regulatory headwinds in China did not douse venture capitalists’ enthusiasm in 2021. But market watchers are bracing for a potential pullback this year.
Venture capital deal activity in China reached a near-record high of $114 billion in 2021, according to the latest PitchBook report. Both deal value and deal count in China were the second-highest since 2015 — a heated private market despite various policy clampdowns imposed by Beijing. READ MORE
There are many different types of investment opportunities available to the average investor. Among them, venture capital and pre-IPO investments are both highly sought after because they offer a chance for massive returns on the initial investment. Many startups have raised massive rounds of venture capital funding. And yet, the number of IPOs is at a ten-year low. READ MORE
Influencers don’t just make money from brand deals these days. A growing number are investing in startups, both individually and by starting their own venture capital firms. The trend of traditional celebrities, like Jay-Z or Ashton Kutcher, investing in startups has been happening for years, but it’s only more recently that social media stars have been embracing VC investing. READ MORE
As university endowments scour the venture landscape for direct deals, avoiding companies founded by alumni could result in better returns.
New research shows that direct investments in university-affiliated startups can result in far fewer successful exits, including initial public offerings and acquisitions, compared to backing independent ventures. READ MORE
Web 3.0 presents a new future for the internet, giving the world access to the decentralized version of the virtual world. With blockchain technology, this web evolution will provide a more user-centric environment, thereby eliminating the power currently held by corporations. By giving the control back to those engaging in online interactions, data monetization will be minimized, personal details will be protected, and trust will begin to replenish. READ MORE
As the interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain increases, so do the investments in the space from venture capitalists, which have soared as much as five times over the course of a single year.
Specifically, the money invested through crypto and blockchain venture capital deals had increased from below $2 billion in the last quarter of 2020, to more than $10 billion in the same period in 2021, marking a nearly 500% increase year-over-year (YoY). READ MORE
North American private equity houses dominate a new ranking of the performance of global mid-market firms, with just three firms – two in Europe and one in Australia – making it into the top 20. READ MORE
The venture capital market is retreating somewhat from its aggressive 2021 pace, new data indicates.
According to data collected by Carta, a unicorn startup that provides equity management and other services to private companies, round sizes from the Series A to C stages in the United States are in decline, while valuations attached to those deals are also falling. For investors hunting for a deal, the pricing reprieve may be welcome. For founders hunting up their next capital tranche, the news could prove less desirable. READ MORE
Kansas City-based Novel Capital emerged from stealth and announced $115 million in initial equity and debt funding from undisclosed backers—the latest move in the growing realm of companies looking to offer founders alternatives to traditional venture capital. READ MORE
As major climate reports sound the alarm on unprecedented challenges stemming from global warming, private markets see more opportunities to profit.
Venture capital funds poured $23.2 billion into climate tech firms in 2021, more than doubling the amount invested in 2020, according to PitchBook data. READ MORE
Last year was a blockbuster for private companies newly valued at $1 billion or above, and unicorn startups founded by women weren’t left out of the growth. READ MORE
In addition to analytical insights, real-time data infrastructure is enabling a new category of applications that can react to changing data as it happens. This touches every part of the data stack, from data ingestion, to business analytics, to machine learning and artificial intelligence. READ MORE
Fundraising for a startup now is quite different than it was even six months ago.
While 2021 was a record year for venture investment, a perfect storm of inflation worries, turbulent public markets and geopolitical disruption have prompted more VCs and their limited partners to become skittish, making fundraising difficult for some startup founders. Early Crunchbase data shows that global venture funding in February dipped $10 billion month over month, though is still up significantly year on year. READ MORE
Fort Ross Ventures looks like a typical venture capital firm. It was created about seven years ago in Silicon Valley with a focus on funding young companies. The founders named it after the first Russian settlement in the US, a nod to their heritage and to one of the firm’s largest backers, Moscow-based Sberbank PJSC.
Today, Russia is waging an unpopular war against Ukraine, and Sberbank is subject to crippling sanctions by Western nations. The other investors whose money is tied up in Fort Ross Ventures are, naturally, “very concerned,” said Victor Orlovski, a founder and managing partner at the firm. READ MORE
Investors have long invested in other investors as a way to get exposure to ambitious, speedy smaller funds (and access to hot deals before their neighbors notice). Andreessen Horowitz has been doing it for years, most recently putting money into a fund for NFT art, and Lightspeed and Sequoia now have well-known scout programs that give starter capital to ambitious emerging investors. READ MORE
It’s a great time to be a start-up – or is it? Only a few months ago we were celebrating a golden age of venture capital with $621bn pouring into start-ups around the world. Some commentators predicted 2022 would be even bigger. READ MORE
Fridge No More, a startup that offered fast delivery with no fee regardless of size order, told employees this week that it was shutting down after a deal with a potential buyer fell through.
The closure was the second in the span of a week by an ultra-fast delivery service in New York City after failing to secure a deal or financing, leaving hundreds unemployed. READ MORE
Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have been making headlines among business leaders and in the financial world ever since several high-profile IPOs were achieved with their assistance. Some of the most anticipated IPOs of the last two years have been facilitated by SPACs, including the stock market debuts of Virgin Galactic Holding, Nikola Corporation, Opendoor Technologies Inc., DraftKings Inc. and BuzzFeed. READ MORE