Tue.Aug 02, 2022

article thumbnail

Dispatches from the Road: Q2 2022

Revolution

Revolution’s team put rubber to the road this spring, traveling more than a collective 12.5K miles to visit founders, college campuses, co-investors, ecosystem builders, and communities in rising cities. While we may not show up on a big red bus every time, showing up?—?figuratively and literally?—?is core to our investment thesis. Why? Because there’s no replacement for meeting people where they are and experiencing innovation economies in real life.

article thumbnail

MarqVision grabs $20M to nab counterfeiters with an AI-powered IP protection platform

TechCrunch

As of 2020, the clothing sector lost about $27 billion in annual sales due to counterfeits, an illicit trade that results in huge losses to both brands and buyers. Clothes, accessories and luxury goods are the most popular product items for counterfeiting, according to the 2022 intellectual property crime threat assessment report. But that’s not where the problem starts and ends: the explosion of digital content has also led to a wide number of digital counterfeiters as well.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

500 Founders: Janelle Fenwick, Jack Coleman, Lane Litz & Frayne Cooke

NZ Entrepreneur

Want to tap in to the best startup advice from entrepreneurs who are out there doing it? Welcome to ‘500 Founders’ where we ask innovators from around New Zealand for their top insights for first time startup founders. Janelle Fenwick – Founder. Teulo. “Surround yourself with the right people to help support you on your startup journey.”.

founder 111
article thumbnail

Getting acquired is a legitimate strategy for building your business

TechCrunch

Yair Snir. Contributor. Yair Snir is vice president and managing director of Dell Technologies Capital, leading venture investment activity in Europe and Israel. Good companies get bought not sold. This saying has been passed down as conventional wisdom through generations of entrepreneurs, but it doesn’t tell the entire story. While the IPO is characterized as the pinnacle for venture-backed startups, far more companies see successful exits via an M&A process than by going public.

article thumbnail

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.

article thumbnail

Investing in IDRx

Andreessen Horowitz

HIV ravaged entire communities before antiretroviral cocktail therapies helped turn the tide. Cocktail therapies combine multiple drugs: Some hit parts of the replication machinery the virus uses to make copies of itself, others block its ability to attack and enter … The post Investing in IDRx appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz.

More Trending

article thumbnail

Founders Are Raising Too Much Money, Here’s What They Should Do Instead

Entrepreneur's Handbook

Founders Are Raising Too Much Money?—?Here’s What They Should Do Instead How to calculate if, and what, you actually need to raise Photo: Unsplash The road to closing a fundraising round is dark and full of secrets. Or at least, it can feel that way. With nearly €73 billion in European venture capital invested in 2021 (Q1-Q3) alone, startups are frothing at the mouth to get a piece of the pie.

founder 69
article thumbnail

Savana raises a fresh round of capital to digitize banks’ services

TechCrunch

Malvern, Pennsylvania–based Savana, a company building financial software products for legacy banks, today announced that it raised $45 million. A portion of the capital — $10 million — was debt, while the rest was a Series A equity tranche led by Georgian Capital Partners. CEO Michael Sanchez told TechCrunch that the proceeds will be put toward general growth and supporting Savana’s go-to-market and product development projects.

capital 89
article thumbnail

Insignia Ventures Partners targets sunrise sectors after raising $516m

AsiaTechDaily

Bookmark ( 0 ) Please login to bookmark Username or Email Address Password Remember Me No account yet? Register Insignia Ventures Partners , a Singapore-based venture capital investor , said it will be more aggressive on “next-decade sunrise sectors” in the region after it announced raising $516 million for three venture funds. The company said it will aggressively explore opportunities in web3, climate tech, healthcare, and agriculture. “There is understated but critical alignment between

article thumbnail

Kenyan insurtech Lami raises $3.7M seed extension led by Harlem Capital

TechCrunch

Right from the launch of its first product in 2020, Kenyan insurtech Lami Technologies set out to increase insurance penetration in Kenya and the rest of Africa. It began on this path by building and distributing an end-to-end digital insurance platform and API that allowed businesses in different sectors to create tailored insurance solutions for their customers.

capital 86
article thumbnail

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.

article thumbnail

DTC startup EVO raises $600K in East Ventures-led Seed funding round

AsiaTechDaily

Bookmark ( 0 ) Please login to bookmark Username or Email Address Password Remember Me No account yet? Register Evo , a direct-to-consumer (DTC) startup based in Singapore, has raised $600,000 in its seed funding round led by East Ventures and participated by notable angel investors Aaron Tan from Carro, Joel Leong from ShopBack, Mohandass from Spenmo, and Jonathan Tan from Prism+.

article thumbnail

TechCrunch+ roundup: SBA startup loans, quarterly board decks, bootstrappers’ delight

TechCrunch

Happy August! Or, as many of my neighbors are fond of saying: Happy Fogust. San Francisco sits on a peninsula surrounded by chilly water, so when warm summer air rushes in, thick fog obscures the landscape. Some days, the blanket is so thick, visibility is just a few hundred feet. It’s an apt metaphor for the uncertainty plaguing tech companies as we hear about layoffs, reduced valuations and more discussion of dry powder than I’ve heard in many years.

board 83
article thumbnail

5 Acquisitions That Were Disasters (And What We Can Learn From Them)

Entrepreneur's Handbook

Including "one of the biggest disasters that have occurred to our country." Continue reading on Entrepreneur's Handbook ».

article thumbnail

Hear how to accelerate slow-moving industries on TechCrunch Live

TechCrunch

Dan Lewis launched Convoy in 2015 into an established industry dominated by several legacy businesses. Now worth $3.8 billion, the company is a leader in bringing digital services to trucking and freight. We’re thrilled to have him on TechCrunch Live this week, along with Chris Howard, founding partner at Fuel Capital, which invested in Convoy’s seed round.

article thumbnail

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?

article thumbnail

Celebrate Black Business Month

Forward Cities

August is Black Business Month! Join us as we celebrate Black entrepreneurship and recognize and support Black-owned businesses in communities across the nation. Check out our impact stories to read about the amazing entrepreneurs, champions, and change-makers dedicated to growing and sustaining more equitable entrepreneurial ecosystems.

article thumbnail

Cybrary secures $25M to grow its platform for cybersecurity training

TechCrunch

The cybersecurity industry has taken a hit recently, with economic headwinds prompting layoffs and a broad investor pullback. But some firms have escaped unscathed, like cybersecurity training platform Cybrary , which today announced that it raised $25 million in a Series C funding round. CEO Kevin Hanes conveyed to TechCrunch that the round, which brings Cybrary’s total raised to $48 million, was led by BuildGroup and Gula Tech Adventure and will be put toward developing “content an

article thumbnail

PlanetScale CEO on Cloud-Prem and Climbing the Engineering Ladder

Andreessen Horowitz

Sam Lambert is CEO of PlanetScale, a MySQL-compatiable serverless database provider. Prior to joining PlanetScale (then as chief product officer), he was VP of engineering at GitHub. In this interview, Lambert discusses a number of topics related to cloud native software-delivery models, including what good serverless looks like, who should run Kubernetes, and the emergence.

86
article thumbnail

Shopify makes $100M strategic investment in marketing automation startup Klaviyo

TechCrunch

E-commerce marketing automation platform Klaviyo has received a $100 million strategic investment from Shopify, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The disclosure coincided with the announcement that Klaviyo and Shopify will strengthen their existing partnership by making Klaviyo the recommended email product for Shopify’s premium merchant plan, Shopify Plus, while granting Klaviyo early access to in-development Shopify features. “We’v

article thumbnail

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!

article thumbnail

Daily Crunch: Sheryl Sandberg is out at Meta, and Zuckerberg’s not looking for a new COO

TechCrunch

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. The SEC leapt in this week, charging 11 people associated with Forsage, which the government watchdog says was running a pyramid scheme. I’m not one to embrace drama, but I also can’t wait for some of these stories to show up as Netflix documentary series.

culture 98
article thumbnail

Vetted lands $15M for AI that helps shoppers find top products and deals

TechCrunch

Vetted , the startup formerly known as Lustre, today announced that it secured $15 million to fund development of its AI-powered platform for product reviews. The cash infusion comes as part of a Series A led by Insight Partners, with participation from Index Ventures, Bling Capital, Golden Ventures and angels including former Meta VP of commerce Shiva Rajaraman, and founder and CEO Stuart Kearney tells TechCrunch that it’ll be invested in scaling Vetted’s machine learning technologi

article thumbnail

Y Combinator narrows current cohort size by 40%, citing downturn and funding environment

TechCrunch

Y Combinator says it has intentionally shrunk the number of startups within its accelerator for the Summer 2022 batch. As first reported by The Information and independently verified by TechCrunch, Y Combinator’s Summer 2022 cohort — currently in action — boasts nearly 250 companies, down 40% from the previous cohort, which landed at 414 companies.

article thumbnail

Previ wants to subtract personal expenses from your paycheck with a cash-back twist

TechCrunch

Why disrupt the bank account when you can go straight to the true source of all consumer spending: an individual’s paycheck? Brandon Rodman , who founded customer communications platform Weave but left before the company went public last year, has started a new company that aims to get consumers to deduct everyday expenses directly from their paycheck.

article thumbnail

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.

article thumbnail

Apple alum’s finance operations startup raises funds to expand globally

TechCrunch

Bluecopa , an Indian startup building a finance operations automation platform for high-volume companies, has raised $2.3 million to expand its offering in the global market. The seed funding round was led by Mumbai-headquartered Blume Ventures, with participation from Titan Capital, T-Fund, Speciale Invest, Bharat Founders Fund, T2D3, Amplify and Force Ventures.

article thumbnail

Aurora Hydrogen raises $10M, but will its process decarbonize or facilitate tar sand exploitation?

TechCrunch

A number of startups have cropped up to tackle the challenge of making hydrogen cheap and accessible for industrial users, including the latest, Aurora Hydrogen. The startup announced a $10 million Series A yesterday led by Energy Innovation Capital and joined by Williams Companies, Shell Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures and the George Kaiser Family Foundation.

energy 87
article thumbnail

Is Discord really worth 32% less today than it was last year?

TechCrunch

Perhaps the most interesting story to emerge from the venture capital slowdown and stock market correction that began in late 2021 is the rejiggering of unicorn valuations. Instacart and Stripe picked up new , lower 409a valuations. Klarna got repriced via an equity round, and other richly funded startups that raised last year are staring down the prospects of either flat or down rounds as 2022 continues.

article thumbnail

Arena raises money from Peter Thiel and David Petraeus for its decision-making AI

TechCrunch

Can AI automate enterprise decision-making? It’s an exceptionally broad and challenging task — assuming it’s within the realm of possibility. But that’s what startup Arena claims to do, fueled by a round of funding ($32 million) led by Initialized Capital and Goldcrest Capital along with Founders Fund, Flexport and a colorful cast of characters, including retired general David Petraeus, Peter Thiel, and Y Combinator CEO Michael Seibel.

article thumbnail

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.