Media’s complicated relationship with VC fundingVENTURE-CAPITAL FUNDING CAN BE A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD for startups. On the one hand, the access to money allows young companies to grow quickly without having to worry about profitability, but in many cases it also encourages them to take irrational risks in an attempt to produce the kind of returns VCs rely upon. The dilemma this creates for media companies in particular was thrown into sharp relief last week when bad news broke on a trifecta of high-profile digital-media ventures. [ CJR ] WeWork keeps up buying spree with MeetupWeWork has agreed to acquire Meetup, a New York-based social network that helps organize offline meetings around common interests. No financial terms are being disclosed, but a source says it's valued at around $200 million (including employee retention incentives). Meetup had raised around $18 million in venture funding since 2002, from firms like DFJ, Omidyar Network, Allen & Co. and Union Square Ventures. [ Axios ] The founder of real estate website Trulia has a new twist on startup investing — and it involves building its own products
Everyone wants to be an internet entrepreneur these days. But according to Pete Flint, the cofounder of real-estate website Trulia, the most successful businesses are built on something even more powerful than the internet. Flint, and the other cofounders of venture capital firm NFX, are on the hunt for “network effects” — products that increase in value as more people use it. That’s what propelled Microsoft's Windows operating system to become the dominant computing platform, years before the internet was a factor. And more recently, it’s the secret to the success of giants like Facebook, Airbnb and Uber among others. [ Business Insider ] SoftBank Bids to Buy Uber Shares for 30% Less Than Current Value
SoftBank Group Corp. and a group of investors are trying to buy a stake in Uber Technologies Inc. at a sizable discount to the company’s $69 billion valuation, seeking to clinch what would be one of the largest purchases of stock in a private company. SoftBank and partners including investment firms Dragoneer Investment Group and General Atlantic are offering to spend more than $6 billion for a stake that would value the ride-hailing company at $48 billion, or about 30 percent lower than the valuation it fetched in its most recent round of fundraising, according to people familiar with the deal. Locking in the investment from Japan’s SoftBank has been a top priority for new Uber Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi, who sees the deal as chance to close rifts and land a powerful new ally. Uber has had an abysmal year, with its co-founder and former CEO resigning under pressure and the company admitting it concealed a hack that exposed personal data of 57 million customers and drivers. [ Bloomberg ] Former Hulu exec Noah Heller launches new venture fund to focus on LA techNoah Heller, one of the chief architects of Hulu’s virtual reality strategy, has left the video streaming service to set up his own venture firm, 3Rodeo. Primarily focused on backing Los Angeles-based technology startups, the new fund has already committed capital to three deals, Heller confirmed. [ Tech Crunch ] Opinion: Bangladesh’s startup scene may seem quiet, but not for longIf you’re a startup founder or investor based in Bangladesh, there are a lot of things to be excited about. A young country where 60 percent of the population is below the age of 30. A growing middle class that makes up a third of the population. Mobile-first internet users, hungry for content and services. Even the drawbacks⏤like the large rural population, poor infrastructure, and lack of internet access⏤can present themselves as opportunities. At the same time, the Bangladeshi startup scene is relatively quiet. This article looks at how the startup ecosystem in Bangladesh has evolved, especially since it was thrust into the spotlight by Startup Dhaka, a documentary from tech news site SD Asia. Instead of the market’s potentials, which have been covered many times, I also take a look at the current startup climate, its trends, as well as strengths and weaknesses. [ Tech In Asia ] Arianna Huffington has raised another $30 million for Thrive Global at a $120 million valuationWhile it’s not that $10 billion that Uber shareholders might be garnering right now in a massive tender offer, one of the car-hailing company’s most prominent board members — Arianna Huffington — managed to score $30 million in a new round of funding for her startup that focuses on “behavior change.” The New York-based Thrive Global has been valued at $120 million, post-money, said sources, in the transaction. New investors that include Salesforce founder and CEO Marc Benioff and the venture firm IVP. IVP has invested about $20 million and Benioff $5 million. The rest of the funding came from another new investor, Marketo co-founder and former CEO Phil Fernandez, as well as early investors including Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Greycroft Partners, Advancit Capital and entrepreneur Sean Parker. [ Re/Code ] GE Ventures unveils new blood collection startup Drawbridge HealthDrawbridge Health wants to make it easier for doctor’s offices and clinics to collect small samples of your blood for testing on site with a handheld device. The device uses proprietary technology to collect and stabilize just a few drops of blood for various tests like hormone levels, genetic testing, monitoring disease and other things patients normally have to get done at an outside lab like Quest Diagnostics or Lab Corp. Instead, the device can stay in the clinic and the proprietary Drawbridge cartridge holding your blood would be shipped out to the third-party lab for results. Of course, any blood diagnostics startup claiming to collect just a few drops of blood for testing on a small device is going to get compared to Theranos, which first promised to deliver results for hundreds of diseases on a single drop of blood. It’s an understatement to say things didn’t go so well for that startup and it seems it may now be running out of cash. [ CrunchBase ] An online education startup thinks it can save bankers from losing their jobs to machinesTen years on from the global financial crisis, bankers are facing another dilemma destined to destroy tens of thousands more jobs. New technologies, particularly automation, artificial intelligence, and blockchain, are disrupting the world’s banking centers. The attack on banking jobs has been relentless. British banks are set to close almost 800 branches this year, after shutting nearly 600 in 2016. The CEO of Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest bank, warned that the company could afford to lose half of its staff to automation. Swiss bank Nordea announced at the end of last month that it was cutting a tenth of its staff, and its CEO said the banking industry could cope with half its current number of personnel. Consultancy Greenwich Associates estimates that 15% of the finance industry’s jobs are at risk of being lost to AI-driven alternatives. [ TechCrunch ] InsurTech Gateway is a new insurance tech accelerator backed by Hambro PerksE781: Matrix David Skok: how to up funnel conversion; Maren Kate Donovan: Zirtual lessons $11m to $0How tech is winning the Trump eraHow investments in cybersecurity link Michael Crow, the CIA and a venture-capital nonprofitVenture Capital Firm NFX Raises $150 millionThis Investor Launched a VC Firm During the Financial Crisis. Here’s What He LearnedWith Snapchat’s new redesign, the company is betting that users want intimacy versus popularityAlibaba-Backed Paytm Aims to Become World's Largest Digital BankTrash startup Rubicon has chosen a new president with a tech backgroundAhead Of The Buzzword Curve: Finding Investors In Front Of Top Tech Trends Mental health and the Australian startup ecosystemDoctolib raises $42 million, becoming one of Europe’s hottest medtech startupsWeWork's latest deal bucks M&A trend in social media |