Fri.May 13, 2022

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Funding Friday: The $2.5mm Match

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

I blogged about the $1k Project For Ukraine a couple of months ago. Since then over 5,000 families in Ukraine have gotten a $1k gift, no strings attached, to help them survive during this crisis. That is $5mm of direct aid to families in Ukraine. Yesterday, Stewart Butterfield, the founder of Slack, tweeted that he and Jen Rubio will be matching another $2.5mm of $1k donations over the next 48 hours, starting at mid-day yesterday. "All” means no need to tweet receipts (or even read this): we

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Postmates founder banks $23 million for his new crypto startup TipTop

TechCrunch

Postmates founder Bastian Lehmann’s new crypto startup TipTop was lightly teased out a few weeks ago, but now the stealth startup is sharing some info on its early funding, though there’s not much info on what they’re actually doing with that money. Lehmann notes that the company has raised a $23 million Series A from a16z with Marc Andreessen himself joining the startup’s board.

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10 Financial Decisions Before Starting Your First Business

Smart Hustle Magazine

Some people believe that launching a business is stressful. Uncertainty exists no matter how well you plan your to-do list or schedule your time. However, there are two sides to a coin. Most businesses collapse due to financial factors such as the entrepreneur running out of cash , being incapable of paying workers, or not supplying enough goods to stay afloat.

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To win insurtech 2.0, focus on underwriting before growth

TechCrunch

Jamie Hale. Contributor. Share on Twitter. Jamie Hale is the CEO and co-founder of Ladder. He has also worked as a partner at Aldenwood Capital and at Jasper Ridge/Oak Hill Investment Management. Like many legacy markets poised for change, the insurance industry has already seen its first wave of innovation. Similar in many ways to the initial novelty of opening a bank account online, insurtech 1.0 brought a centuries-old product into the digital era by giving customers a way to apply for insura

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The Big Payoff of Application Analytics

Outdated or absent analytics won’t cut it in today’s data-driven applications – not for your end users, your development team, or your business. That’s what drove the five companies in this e-book to change their approach to analytics. Download this e-book to learn about the unique problems each company faced and how they achieved huge returns beyond expectation by embedding analytics into applications.

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Blockchain data platform Chainalysis bags $170m in GIC-led funding

AsiaTechDaily

Bookmark ( 0 ) Please login to bookmark Username or Email Address Password Remember Me No account yet? Register Chainalysis , the blockchain data platform , announced a $170 million Series F financing led by Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC , bringing its valuation to $8.6 billion. Existing investors Accel, Blackstone, Dragoneer, and FundersClub increased their investment in the company, and the Bank of New York Mellon and Emergence Capital also participated.

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I Found Out the Sketchy Truth Behind Startup Endorsement Deals

Entrepreneur's Handbook

My company was approached by a global leader of industry, and they proved just how rigged the entire system is. Continue reading on Entrepreneur's Handbook ».

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Better.com CEO Vishal Garg says he is ‘personally liable’ for $750M SoftBank loan

TechCrunch

Better.com CEO Vishal Garg has acknowledged to employees that he “personally guaranteed” the $750 million cash infusion provided to the online mortgage lender last November in an email seen by TechCrunch. Let’s start at the beginning. Last May, Better.com announced that it was going public via a SPAC that would value the company at nearly $7 billion.

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Here’s What the Unbelievable Future of Online Writing Looks like in Web3

Entrepreneur's Handbook

The creator economy will get a new business model. Continue reading on Entrepreneur's Handbook ».

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Inflection AI, led by LinkedIn and DeepMind co-founders, raises $225M to transform computer-human interactions

TechCrunch

Inflection AI , the machine learning startup headed by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and founding DeepMind member Mustafa Suleyman, has secured $225 million in equity financing, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The source of the capital isn’t yet clear — Inflection didn’t immediately respond to a request for more information — but the massive round suggests strong investor confidence in Suleyman, who serves as the company’s

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PE Mastery: CAPTARGET's Playbook for Quality Lead Flow

CAPTARGET presents a masterclass in M&A deal sourcing. Learn to cast a wide net, embracing seller self-identification. Consistency is the linchpin: keep the origination process steady for a reliable flow of opportunities. Diversify your tactics, employing various tools and vendors. Tech matters! Understand DNS settings, domain authority, and brand presence for optimal outreach.

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A Billionaire Slid Into My DMs (And Gave Me A Business Masterclass)

Entrepreneur's Handbook

What advice would you ask a billionaire? Continue reading on Entrepreneur's Handbook ».

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Revel founder Frank Reig a year later on driving EV adoption in big cities

TechCrunch

Almost exactly a year ago, we interviewed Revel founder and CEO Frank Reig when Revel was on the cusp of expanding into multiple business lines beyond its original scope of providing shared electric mopeds. Today, we’re taking a second look to see how far the startup has come, and the distance it has to cover to achieve its stated goal of helping urban cities transition to electric transport.

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Indonesian insurtech startup Qoala raises $65m in Series B round

AsiaTechDaily

Bookmark ( 0 ) Please login to bookmark Username or Email Address Password Remember Me No account yet? Register Indonesian insurtech startup Qoala announced raising Series B funding of $65 million anchored by Eurazeo with participation from several existing investors including Flourish Ventures, KB Investment, MassMutual Ventures, MDI Ventures, SeedPlus, and Sequoia Capital India.

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Valued at $50M, Body404 wants to bring Chinese indie brands to the world

TechCrunch

Over the past few years, Shein has taken over online fast fashion by exporting affordable wear from China to customers around the globe. Its success has attracted a wave of imitators, but a startup called Body404 believes China isn’t just about cheap runway knockoffs. The country is also seeing a budding generation of cosmopolitan designers crafting high-quality garments and accessories, and Body404 wants to help them reach Western consumers.

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Monetizing Analytics Features

Think your customers will pay more for data visualizations in your application? Five years ago, they may have. But today, dashboards and visualizations have become table stakes. Turning analytics into a source of revenue means integrating advanced features in unique, hard-to-steal ways. Download this white paper to discover which features will differentiate your application and maximize the ROI of your analytics.

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A Framework for Navigating Down Markets

Andreessen Horowitz

The market has taken a downturn, and every other blog or tweetstorm seems to offer the same general advice: conserve cash, extend runway, shift from focusing on growth to focusing on efficiency. We’ve advised many of our later stage growth companies through market ups and downs, and we’ve realized that, when the market dips, founders. Read More. The post A Framework for Navigating Down Markets appeared first on Future.

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Daily Crunch: Better.com CEO Vishal Garg says he’s on the hook for $750M SoftBank loan

TechCrunch

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PT, subscribe here. It’s Friday the 13th, and I hope nothing nefarious happened to you today. At least the weekend is here! At the very least, you can catch up on the latest Terraform Labs news — Binance halted Luna and UST trading — and some great podcasts from your favorite TechCrunchers.

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Luna Brothers, Inc.

Entrepreneur's Handbook

( Any views expressed in the below are the personal views of the author and should not form the basis for making investment decisions, nor be construed as a recommendation or advice to engage in investment transactions. ) There is shockingly little that we as humans can actually control about our existence in this universe. Even so, we as a civilization spend an inordinate amount of energy bringing calm and stasis to a volatile earth.

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Zoom dives deeper into intelligent customer service with Solvvy acquisition

TechCrunch

Zoom swung for the fences last summer when its stock value was soaring, offering almost $15 billion to buy Five9 to get into customer service. Eventually the deal fell apart when the stock price plunged , but Zoom’s desire to get into customer service one way or the other didn’t diminish. Earlier this year, the company announced a new customer service solution , which would take advantage of existing Zoom capabilities.

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How to Stay Competitive in the Evolving State of Martech

Marketing technology is essential for B2B marketers to stay competitive in a rapidly changing digital landscape — and with 53% of marketers experiencing legacy technology issues and limitations, they’re researching innovations to expand and refine their technology stacks. To help practitioners keep up with the rapidly evolving martech landscape, this special report will discuss: How practitioners are integrating technologies and systems to encourage information-sharing between departments and pr

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5 steps to avoid cybersecurity complacency

Entrepreneurs' Organization

While you’re likely aware of the dangers of an unprotected IT system, it’s easy to think that a cyberattack or data theft won’t ever happen to you. But that level of complacency puts businesses at increased risk of falling victim to criminal activity, which could be devastating from both a financial and reputation perspective. . Whether you work alone, in a startup or as part of a large organization, it’s essential to stay on top of your cybersecurity game and protect any areas of your business

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To boost early-stage growth, adopt a jobs-to-be-done approach to marketing

TechCrunch

Michael Popchuk. Contributor. Share on Twitter. Michael Popchuk is a serial entrepreneur and the co-founder and CEO of Saldo Apps. The jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) approach provides a framework for defining, categorizing, capturing and organizing all your customers’ needs. It teaches us to think about users’ needs and develop a product to meet those needs.

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Use Bundling To Increase Your Cash Flow

Smart Hustle Magazine

You see it everywhere. In the airport, on Amazon, in college bookstores, and carpet cleaning services, bundling is the open secret used to increase cash flow. The basic truth is – it works. What is Bundling. Bundling is combing items that are often bought together at a perceived discount or convenience. The thought process behind it is simple – increase the average transaction value of the customer.

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48 hours left to save $200 on TC Sessions: Mobility

TechCrunch

Attention mobility startups, professionals, investors and enthusiasts! You have just 48 hours remaining to save $200 on TC Sessions: Mobility 2022 , our first in-person mobility event since 2019. The event takes place on May 18-19 in San Mateo, California with online analyst commentary on May 20. It’s the must-see mobility event of the year, and you have until Sunday, May 15, to save $200 on a General Admission pass.

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How To Package & Price Embedded Analytics

Just by embedding analytics, app owners can charge 24% more for their product. How much value could you add? This framework from Software Pricing Partners explains how application enhancements can extend your product offerings. You’ll learn: How to take a disciplined approach to pricing The three elements of the Packaging Decision Framework Ways to structure your new embedded analytics offering Download the White Paper to learn about How To Package & Price Embedded Analytics.

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[Arcadia in Axios] Energy data startup Arcadia valued at $1.45B in pre-IPO round

OurCrowd

Arcadia, a startup that pulls energy-use data from smart meters via its API, raised $200 million in Series E funding at $1.45 billion valuation. It’s likely the last round of private financing the company will complete prior to a public offering, CEO Kiran Bhatraju tells Axios. Read more here. The post [Arcadia in Axios] Energy data startup Arcadia valued at $1.45B in pre-IPO round appeared first on OurCrowd Blog.

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Investors reward battery startup SES for losing money (but not too much)

TechCrunch

It appears battery startup SES’ investors are quite happy with its first earnings report. The company went public in February via a SPAC merger, and to no one’s surprise, reported a loss. And its investors don’t seem to mind. Its shares, while still trading below its SPAC merger price, were up 16.7% at $6.15 at the time of writing, outpacing broader markets gains earlier in the day. .

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[Cyabra in Reuters] Do spam bots really comprise under 5% of Twitter users? Elon Musk wants to know

OurCrowd

May 13 (Reuters) – Since 2013, Twitter has downplayed the spread of fake accounts on its platform, holding that “false or spam” accounts make up less than 5% of its user base even as independent researchers said the number could be three times higher. Read more here. The post [Cyabra in Reuters] Do spam bots really comprise under 5% of Twitter users?

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How close are we to understanding what’s going on?

TechCrunch

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. This week we recorded live, which is always good fun, meaning that we took some questions from the audience. If you want that version of the show, we have a YouTube archive of it here. For those of you more into audio, we have you covered here.

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ABM Evolution: How Top Marketers Are Using Account-Based Strategies

In times of economic uncertainty, account-based strategies are essential. According to several business analysts and practitioners, ABM is a necessity for creating more predictable revenue. Research shows that nearly three-quarters of marketers (74%) already have the resources needed to build successful ABM programs.