Thu.Feb 16, 2023

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Stelo Labs raises $6M in a16z-led round to help crypto wallet users protect themselves

TechCrunch

Stelo Labs , a web3 security company, raised $6 million in a seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz, the company exclusively told TechCrunch. The company was co-founded by Ben Scharfstein, CEO, and Aman Dhesi, CTO. Both have backgrounds in product management — Scharfstein worked at Google, and Dhesi held roles at Facebook, DoorDash and Square. Stelo Labs’ goal is to make web3 “safe and understandable for everyone,” Scharfstein said.

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Need Funding? Here’s What to Know about Angel Investors and 3 Tips to Win Them Over

StartupNation

Has there been a better time to start your own business? Industries are ripe for disruption. Tech companies… The post Need Funding? Here’s What to Know about Angel Investors and 3 Tips to Win Them Over appeared first on StartupNation.

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Neobank Vexi raises millions to offer young Mexicans lower interest rate credit cards

TechCrunch

Getting a credit card is something most Americans take for granted. In countries such as Mexico, it’s a much more difficult and less common endeavor. In fact, less than 20% of the population has access to a form of credit, with just an estimated 10% having credit cards. In recent years, a number of startups have emerged to offer underserved Mexicans more options in an effort to boost inclusion in the country.

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Passion for fashion and entrepreneurship earns student full ride to Rider University

American Entrepreneurship

Brianna Bogos, a senior at Bishop Eustace Preparatory School in Pennsauken Township, New Jersey, is the winner of the 2023 Norm Brodsky Business Concept Competition. Bogos pitched her business idea to a panel of judges live on Jan. 28 during Rider University’s annual competition, earning her a full, four-year tuition scholarship to the University. “It takes a huge financial burden off my shoulders and allows me to focus on my education and growing my business,” she says.

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From Curiosity to Competitive Edge: How Mid-Market CEOs Are Using AI to Scale Smarter

Speaker: Lee Andrews, Founder at LJA New Media & Tony Karrer, Founder and CTO at Aggregage

This session will walk you through how one CEO used generative AI, workflow automation, and sales personalization to transform an entire security company—then built the Zero to Strategy framework that other mid-market leaders are now using to unlock 3.5x ROI. As a business executive, you’ll learn how to assess AI opportunities in your business, drive adoption across teams, and overcome internal resource constraints—without hiring a single data scientist.

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A comprehensive list of 2023 tech layoffs

TechCrunch

Last year’s tech-wide reckoning continues. In 2023, layoffs have yet again cost tens of thousands of tech workers their jobs; this time, the workforce reductions have been driven by the biggest names in tech like Google , Amazon , Microsoft , Yahoo and Zoom. Startups, too, have announced cuts across all sectors, from crypto to enterprise SaaS. The reasoning behind these workforce reductions follows a common script , citing the macroeconomic environment and a need to find discipline on a tumultu

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Binance-backed web3 gaming startup Unagi gets funding to expand fantasy sports platform

TechCrunch

Web3 gaming company Unagi today announced a €4.7 million ($5 million) seed round of funding, as the French startup prepares to expand its NFT fantasy sports platform beyond football (“soccer”) and into the basketball realm. Unagi, which doesn’t yet have its own website, was founded out of Paris by Charlie Guillemot , son of Ubisoft co-founder Yves Guillemot and formerly studio manager at Owlient, a free-to-play game studio acquired by Ubisoft back in 2011; and Remi Pellerin , a

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Financial Inclusion for Latinos Gains $4.5M Seed Capital for Latino-founded Neobank

American Entrepreneurship

Costanoa Ventures led Seed Round with participation from South Park Commons and FJ Labs Innovation and entrepreneurship is about filling a gap or solving a pain point. Comun, a Latino-founded neobank offering banking solutions for Latino families , found a gap to fill and a pain point to solve. Comun observed that no incumbent bank offers a full Spanish language banking experience.

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The entire fintech industry is not in distress – here’s who is hiring

TechCrunch

With so many fintechs laying off staff , it can be easy to assume that the entire industry is in distress. But that’s not the case. In fact, some companies are finding opportunity in the masses of layoffs. Rex Salisbury, founding partner of Cambrian Ventures and formerly on the fintech investment team at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), believes that early-stage fintech founders, particularly at the pre-seed and seed stages, “are the big winners in the current job market and are pulling in top

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Four Things Entrepreneurs Don't Need, According to This Outdoor Adventurer and Creative Founder

Entrepreneur - Entrepreneurs Category

How L. Renee Blount built a business around her love of the outdoors, storytelling and a healthy dose of whimsey.

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State of AI in Sales & Marketing 2025

AI adoption is reshaping sales and marketing. But is it delivering real results? We surveyed 1,000+ GTM professionals to find out. The data is clear: AI users report 47% higher productivity and an average of 12 hours saved per week. But leaders say mainstream AI tools still fall short on accuracy and business impact. Download the full report today to see how AI is being used — and where go-to-market professionals think there are gaps and opportunities.

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Puzzle is building a modern accounting package for today’s API-enabled startups

TechCrunch

A company starting from scratch today is probably going to use a stack of financial software with the most modern fintech tools. These could be things like Stripe for payments, Brex for corporate credit cards and Gusto for payroll and benefits, among others that when combined can provide a unique view into a company’s financial health. Puzzle , an early-stage startup, is building an accounting package aimed at taking advantage of the data streaming from these tools.

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Moonfare closes Series C extension with $15m in fresh investments

AsiaTechDaily

Bookmark ( 0 ) Please login to bookmark Username or Email Address Password Remember Me No account yet? Register Moonfare, a global digital private equity investment platform has announced that it raised $15 million at the close of its Series C extension funding round. The firm, which has its Asia Pacific offices headquartered in Singapore and Hong Kong, achieved a record valuation during the recent funding round.

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Dash CEO placed on ‘indefinite administrative leave’ as the Insight-backed startup carries out financial audit

TechCrunch

Prince Boakye Boampong , the founder and CEO of Dash , which provides an alternative payment network with connected wallets allowing interaction between mobile money and bank accounts in Africa, has allegedly been temporarily suspended pending an investigation into financial impropriety, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation. Boampong founded the Ghanaian fintech in 2019 and is one of Africa’s well-known serial entrepreneurs after co-launching OMG Digital , a YC-backed Ghana

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6 Ways Startups Can Determine Their Valuation: A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding Your Worth

Jason Malki

Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) Analysis DCF analysis is a valuation method that takes into account a startup’s expected future cash flows. This method calculates the present value of future cash flows by applying a discount rate that reflects the business’s risk. Angel investors and VCs prefer this method as it is a quantitative approach that relies on future projections.

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15 Modern Use Cases for Enterprise Business Intelligence

Large enterprises face unique challenges in optimizing their Business Intelligence (BI) output due to the sheer scale and complexity of their operations. Unlike smaller organizations, where basic BI features and simple dashboards might suffice, enterprises must manage vast amounts of data from diverse sources. What are the top modern BI use cases for enterprise businesses to help you get a leg up on the competition?

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Why Entrepreneurs Must Adopt a Failure-Tolerant Mindset

Entrepreneur's Handbook

You are the protagonist in your life. Don’t be the antagonist.

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Singapore-based Transcelestial uses lasers to build affordable internet networks

TechCrunch

Transcelestial is on a mission to make the internet more accessible by building a network of shoebox-sized devices that send lasers to one another, creating a fiber-like network. Today, the Singaporean-based startup announced it has raised $10 million, with the goal of expanding its wireless laser communications system in Indonesia, India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and the United States.

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Unlock Your Business Potential with the 10–80–10 Formula: The Secret to Scaling Your Creative…

Entrepreneur's Handbook

Cloning yourself isn’t necessary.

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Planetarians grabs $6M to get its plant-based protein into foodservice orbit

TechCrunch

A $6 million venture capital infusion is helping Planetarians , a San Francisco–based company creating whole cuts of plant-based protein, move to its next phase of commercial production. Aleh Manchuliantsau and chef Max Barnthouse founded Planetarians in 2013 as a nutritional drink company. They funded it with a mere $500 and sold 1 million servings, but they were also competing with the likes of Soylent , which had Andreessen Horowitz money behind it, Manchuliantsau told TechCrunch.

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The GTM Intelligence Era: ZoomInfo 2025 Customer Impact Report

ZoomInfo customers aren’t just selling — they’re winning. Revenue teams using our Go-To-Market Intelligence platform grew pipeline by 32%, increased deal sizes by 40%, and booked 55% more meetings. Download this report to see what 11,000+ customers say about our Go-To-Market Intelligence platform and how it impacts their bottom line. The data speaks for itself!

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SPV Fund Administration Vendor Reviews and Comparison

David Teten VC

If you’re managing an SPV, which fund administration vendors should you use? Landon Ainge gave us permission to publish his detailed evaluation of the SPV support landscape, including AngelList, Vauban, Allocations, Savvi Legal, Venture360, Finally, Sydecar, Canopy, Flow (I’m an investor via HOF Capital), Syndicately, Two12, SPV Hub, Formidium, Odin, PropelX, AM Advisors, Qualitas Fund Admin, Nth Round, SmartFunds, Loon Creek, Verivend, HC Global (my fund admin), Dealum, Specialsituations, and S

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Ledge aims to build automation tools for finance teams

TechCrunch

The rapid adoption of digital payments has become a great challenge for finance teams. According to one report , teams spend as much as 40% of their time processing transactions. To blame is disparate, unstructured data, they say. In a separate survey , 48% of teams peg fragmented data as the largest impediment to closing their books. Tal Kirschenbaum is well acquainted with the struggle.

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[Appdome in PR Newswire] Appdome strengthens go-to-market leadership to meet accelerating demand for mobile cyber defense automation

OurCrowd

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Feb. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Appdome, the mobile economy’s one and only Cyber Defense Automation platform, today announced that it has expanded its global leadership team to meet increasing demand for its Mobile Cyber Defense Automation and Mobile XDR products. Appdome adds new sales, marketing and solutions executives with deep cyber, anti-fraud, and workforce automation experience to respond to the fast-emerging role Appdome plays in the mobile economy.

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Sequoia backs open source data-validation framework Pydantic to commercialize with cloud services

TechCrunch

Pydantic , the popular Python library and open source data-validation framework used by some of the world’s biggest companies, has a new commercial namesake and the backing of one of Silicon Valley’s most storied venture capital (VC) firms. Pydantic Services Inc. emerges from stealth today with $4.7 million in seed funding led by Sequoia , with participation from ParTech , Irregular Expressions and a host of angel investors, including Zapier co-founder Bryan Helmig , dbt Labs founder

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How Top Tech CFOs Solve Annual Planning’s Biggest Challenges

Gearing up for 2025 annual planning? Our latest eBook from the Operators Guild is your ultimate guide. Discover real-world solutions and best practices shared by top CFOs, drawn directly from discussions within OG’s vibrant online community. Learn from senior executives at high-growth tech startups as they outline financial planning strategies, align CEO and board goals, and coordinate budgets across departments.

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13 Guides to Help You Navigate—and Leverage—AI and ChatGPT

StartupNation

Artificial intelligence has become, seemingly overnight, a focal point for the business world and a battleground for corporate… The post 13 Guides to Help You Navigate—and Leverage—AI and ChatGPT appeared first on StartupNation.

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So that founder you backed turned out to be problematic. Now what?

TechCrunch

Venture capitalists often say that they don’t just back a company because of its vision, but also because they believe in the founder or founding team and think they’re the right people to execute the startup’s goals. However, being the right person to bring an idea to fruition has no correlation with being a good CEO or manager of a resulting startup, and investors may find themselves tied into a yearslong relationship with someone who turns out to be problematic.

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10 Best Practices Successful Companies and Marketers Follow

StartupNation

The best companies employ the best practices. Easy to say, right? But not so easy to do. Here… The post 10 Best Practices Successful Companies and Marketers Follow appeared first on StartupNation.

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5 buyer red flags to look for during the M&A process

TechCrunch

Marina Martianova Contributor Share on Twitter Marina Martianova, founder and CEO of Seamm , is a serial entrepreneur who launched her first startup at the age of 21. The global mergers and acquisitions market skyrocketed in 2021, with a total of nearly $6 trillion in deals recorded that year. The pace of deal-making slowed somewhat in 2022, but the market is again picking up steam, with large acquisitions making up 28% of total deal value last year.

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5 Ways You Can Win Faster with Gen AI in Sales

Incorporating generative AI (gen AI) into your sales process can speed up your wins through improved efficiency, personalized customer interactions, and better informed decision- making. Gen AI is a game changer for busy salespeople and can reduce time-consuming tasks, such as customer research, note-taking, and writing emails, and provide insightful data analysis and recommendations.