Bitcoin Billionaire Winklevoss Sees Surge of as Much as 20 Fold
Cameron Winklevoss, thought to be one of the largest holders of bitcoin, thinks the cryptocurrency’s blazing gains this year are just the start. He predicts it will rise as much as 20-fold as investors come to view it as an upgrade to gold. Wall Street’s plan to launch futures contracts on Sunday, making it easier to bet against the digital currency’s rally in recent months, is making some enthusiasts nervous -- but not Winklevoss. He’s one of the famed 36-year-old twins who played an early role in Facebook Inc.’s formation, then dedicated part of their fortune to the cryptocurrency and have since tried to win approval for a bitcoin trading vehicle. Max Levchin's lending startup is heading for unicorn territoryAffirm, the personal credit startup led by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, has filed a stock authorization form in Delaware that would allow it to raise up to $210 million in new funding at around a $1.4 billion pre-money valuation. That would be about twice what the San Francisco-based company was worth when it last raised equity funding, in early 2016. Why it matters: Levchin has a track record for successfully turning established finance models on their heads. Affirm is aimed at changing the point-of-sale credit market for mid-ticket items, by providing loan payback transparency (e.g., no compunding interest) and incorporating a consumer's income into its decision-making process (as opposed to just a credit score). [ Axios ] Exclusive: Investors Bet $1.5 Million That Billie Can Be the Dollar Shave Club for WomenFinally, investors are waking up to the fact that women shave. Billie, the women’s counterpart to subscription razor services like Dollar Shave Club and Harry’s, has raised $1.5 million in seed funding, the startup tells Fortune. The round was led by Female Founders Fund, Greycroft Partners, and Bakehouse Ventures. [ Fortune ] This is where SoftBank’s $98 billion Vision Fund has invested so farReal estate tech company Compass is the latest beneficiary of SoftBank’s $100 billion Vision Fund,receiving $450 million Thursday from a funding round led by the tech fund. Backed by tech giants including Apple, Qualcomm and Sharp, as well as by sovereign funds from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, SoftBank’s Vision Fund has so far raised $98 billion, making it the largest technology investment fund ever. Its scale has reshaped Silicon Valley in 2017. Other recent investments include funding rounds for Slack, Mapbox and Vir Biotechnology. SoftBank is likely to invest up to a whopping $10 billion in Uber, but that deal hasn’t gone through yet. [ Recode ] The Bitcoin Whales: 1,000 People Who Own 40 Percent of the MarketOn Nov. 12, someone moved almost 25,000 bitcoins, worth about $159 million at the time, to an online exchange. The news soon rippled through online forums, with bitcoin traders arguing about whether it meant the owner was about to sell the digital currency. [ Bloomberg ] Beyond the Series B: When to quit, when to sell, and when to double downSo far on our podcast series, “Beyond the Series B: How the Giants of Silicon Valley Made It,” we’ve dealt with the topic of luck, we’ve dealt with rivalries, we’ve dealt with the money you shouldn’t take, and we’ve dealt with the chaos of holding your company together when things go too well. [ Pando ] |